How We Adapted To Dead
by Arlena4815162342
Summary: Rae and Lena are two cousins, dealing with the Undead after the Infection which somehow happened overnight. They have no contact with anyone, but when they meet a certain group of four other survivors, things might get a little easier. Welcome to the freakin' zombieland. Self-inserts. DLC and comic spoilers.
1. What The? ZOMBIES!

**Inspired after seeing __****Zombieland** with your cousin. Yes, _**Zombieland**_**!**

**How We Adapted To Dead  
**

Featuring: ******Arlena4815162342** (right in the visual) &** Gn3rlzDaught3r **(left in the visual)

I do not own the Left 4 Dead stuff

**x****x****x**

**June, 2010  
**

_"Wake up, dummy," _

That was the first words of our soon coming horror-adventure. I'd remember it forever.

"I'm up, I'm up…" I mumbled.

"Nana's not here," the next words said to me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"She's not here," the words said again.

"Oh, well she's probably at work or at the store…what time is it?" I asked.

"9:12."

"Aww, _come on,_ I'm not supposed to be up until _noon!_" I complained.

I felt a smirk, and then felt my covers ripped off from the love seat I was on.

Let me start over, the _proper_ way. The name's Arlena, your not average fourteen year old. I'm brown eyed, about 5'2, with longish, _almost_ dark brown hair.

The girl who woke me up is my cousin Raeann, better liked as Rae. She's thirteen, and about an inch shorter than me; she has brown eyes like mine, which then you'd assume us for sisters; we do look alike. She's brown haired too, but she's got serious blond highlights because she was on a Lady Gaga phase at the time.

Yeah.

_Just dance, gonna be okay...~_

"Wanna go to that convenient store on Tracy Road?" Rae asked me after waking me.

"Um, sure, I guess," I said.

"Cool," she chimed. After showering, and eating, and stuff, like normal teenagers, we left the house. I called Nana, but she didn't answer. We were spending the weekend with her, since we've had nothing else to do.

Summer break is boring.

"Maybe she's working like I said…" I suggested. Why didn't she tell us though? While walking, I gave a notice to something. "Hey," I said.

"What?" Rae asked.

"Where _is_ everyone?" I replied.

Rae looked around. There were no cars, and the ones we saw weren't being used. "Huh..." she said.

* * *

When we arrived at the mini-mart, it was strangely quiet.

"There's like only five cars," Rae noted.

"Nah, you think? Let's see if anyone's in the store..." I went in first. The lights were on, so SOMEONE had to be here.

"HELL_OOOOO_!" Rae called out.

"_Shut up!_ You hear that?" I said fiercely. From the back of the store, I heard grunting.

"What's that?" Rae whispered. She looked at me, and I put a finger to my mouth, telling her to _shut up_ again.

The grunting stopped. Then came the sounds of footsteps, fast ones.

When we saw him, Raeann screamed bloody _murder_. Something was totally _wrong_ with this guy. For one thing, his face was covered in _blood_. His skin looked degraded. His hair messy, everything about him... GROSS.

"No, way..." I muttered.

He charged at us.

"GO!" Rae and I flew out the door we came in. We dashed across the parking lot of the plaza.

"LENA!" Rae screamed.

"DON'T STOP!" I ordered. I gave a sharp turn, going towards the street Nana lived on.

"LOOK!" Rae caught up to me. I looked where she did.

A cop car.

"So _what_?" I exclaimed, starting to get cramps.

"Shotgun!" she hissed. I looked back to see our friend from the convenient store still chasing us.

_Move, legs, move! _I yelled in my head. I breezed way ahead of Rae; when I reached the car, I sighed happily as it wasn't locked.

_Smart, Rae_, I grabbed the gun.

Funny thing is... I don't know how to _use_ one.

I thought of how they did it in movies, they put one hand on the bottom and cocked it.

So, I did._ Nice_.

"SHOOT!" Rae yelled.

I hesitated. This would make me a murderer. _Just great..._

* * *

Both me and the guy went down when I shot. It killed him, or wounded him, and the gun gave me a really bad kick, making me fall back. I dropped the shotgun and began panting frantically.

Rae fell next to me. "You okay?" she asked.

"...I just _killed_ someone," I said solemnly. "I need, a _minute_."

"Okay."

I _swear_ I was out of it when he started getting back up.

"Lena…" Rae whispered.

"Oh, God..." I said.

"Shoot him in the head." Rae realized.

"What?" I asked.

"Like _Resident Evil, _you gotta shoot him in the head." she explained.

"Zombies aren't _real!_" I said.

"They are _now_!" Rae screamed. I grabbed the gun. "Do it." Rae ordered.

* * *

I was sick to my stomach.

Rae took the gun, 'cause I was about to drop it again. I sat back down, and I believe I went into _shock_. "Lena," I heard Rae. But I didn't do anything. I just sat, and stared off.

"Lena? Can you drive?" Rae asked.

I blinked. "Kinda…why?" I said. She looked to the parking lot.

Wonderful._ More_ bloody-faced people.

"I saw keys in the car…" I remember.

"Get in." Rae went around to the passenger seat. I got up and entered the driver's seat. I turned the ignition and the car roared to life.

I wasn't experienced, I've only driven three times, excluding now. I didn't wanna go _so_ fast. I made the car go forward, onto Nana's house.

_SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!_


	2. To Keep Us Safe

When I nearly ran the car into Nana's yard, Rae was lecturing me about my poor driving skills.

"_You_ try this then! _Not _easy!" I exclaimed. We got out, and ran inside. "Lock the door, and the windows, everything." I ordered.

She didn't hesitate. I turned the news on.

NOTHING.

_STATIC_.

"Great," I muttered.

"My mom's not answering." Rae told me.

"What about your dad?" (her parents aren't together, and neither are mine, not that you didn't need to know that...ahahaha) I asked. She shook her head. I pulled out my phone, and called MY dad. No answer. I called his fiance, my soon to be _step_-mother. (hoe) No answer.

"Is everyone _dead_?" Rae asked softly.

I almost dropped my phone. "No! Are you _crazy_? I think I know what's happening," I turned the TV off. "Maybe this _is_ like _Resident Evil_, and no one's answering 'cause they've been evacuated." I explained.

"Then why didn't they come for us?" Rae asked.

"We're heavy sleepers, guess we didn't hear them knocking." I answered.

That didn't sound right in the slightest.

"So, what do we do?" she asked then.

"We're leaving," I grabbed my military book bag. I shoved stuff in, then grabbed my red-black suitcase. I went into the kitchen. Rae followed. "Grab anything that could be used for a weapon." I told her. She looked scared out of her mind. "_Rae!_" I said. She moved. I opened the fridge, and shoved in some water bottles. Rae handed me a few knives, how original.

All ready, we left the house and got in our _stolen_ cop car. We put our bags and stuff in the back. "Where are we _going_?" Rae asked, getting in the passenger seat.

"Umm…gas station. Then Wal*Mart." I explained.

"Why there?" she asked.

"_Food_. _Guns_." I said solemnly.

The Sunoco was like a few streets away. "Uhhh…do you know how to get the gas to come out?" I asked.

"No," Rae said, flipping back her blond highlights.

Great.

I pushed the third button, which had the most money cost on it. I already had that thingy you put in your tank in already.

I don't know _what_ this _stuff_ is.

As I heard the gas coming through, Rae wanted me to go in the store with her. "Alright," I held the shotgun and followed her in.

We didn't see anyone, but I held the gun up anyway. We made our way to the back, where the drinks were. Rae grabbed a Mountain Dew. "Hey, grab as much as you want. _Undead_ people don't really care..." I told her.

She grabbed a few more.

I grabbed some Dr. Pepper's, and a couple green flavored Monster Energies. We swooped through the snack aisles and grabbed what we wanted.

"We're so goin' to hell," I announced.

"Yep," she agreed.

Back in the car, we shoved all our food/beverage supplies in the back. I turned the key in the ignition, and off we went to Wal*Mart.

"Where are we going after?" Rae asked.

I was punching in addresses in the GPS. "To my house. If no one's there then we'll go to yours." I answered. My dad lives in Rocky Ridge, Ohio. Rae lives here, in Toledo.

Not that you needed to know that.

"And if _none_ of them are _there_?" she asked.

"We find a TV that has working cable, and check the news. Or something..." I explained.

"Okay," she said quietly.

* * *

Wal*Mart. It was _completely_ empty. Except for a few vacant cars.

"See that blue Tahoe? We're _taking_ it." I explained.

"How? We don't have _keys_," she noted.

"Don't you remember in _Godzilla_, when the French guy used the knife to rip off the top part of the ignition of the taxi, and he stuck it in and then it turned on?" I reminded. She nodded. "Let's do this," I said.

Rae screamed as soon as we walked in.

There were _quite_ a few undead people.

I cocked the gun and was blasting. But I was outnumbered so we ran outside.

It was then I ran out of _bullets_.

"Shit," I groan. "Rae, follow me, I have an idea!" I yelled then. I took a sharp right turn, towards the whole gardening section of the building. Then I turned left and dashed into the parking lot.

"Where are we _going_?" Rae screamed at me.

"Just follow me!" I said again.

I turned left again, and was headed straight for the entrance. When we ran in, I dashed straight to the back, where the grocery was. Rae and I zipped through one aisle, ran past three, then went down a fourth aisle. We were in the freezer section by then. We flew straight down and landed in the baby-infant-toddler section.

When we were in the game/video section, we stopped, and crouched down. I sighed happily. "We lost them. Good." I said. Rae was puffing really hard. "I have an idea of how to get rid of them," I started. Rae looked at me. "I need you to make your way to the registers. And get me a _lighter_." I explained.

"By _myself_?" she sounded horrified.

I nodded. "I'll go to the pharmacy, where the hair products are, and I'll get some _hair_ spray…"

Rae caught on. "Gotcha." she whispered.

"Gotta love Uncle Worm and Moine," I sighed. Don't ask who they are. "They taught me how to do it," I pulled out a knife, "If they come close." I handed it to her.

"Why didn't you just use it _earlier_?" she asked.

"Look, this might be the only time in my life when I can use a homemade _flamethrower_. We gotta be _creative_." I explained.

She had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

"We'll meet back here, okay?" I suggested.

"Okay, hey... get two bottles. I wanna do it too." she said.

I smiled "Okay." Then we went our separate ways. If there weren't flesh-eating zombies on our tails, I'd say this was rather _fun_.


	3. HF's and Guns

When we crouched to the end of the aisle of the video game section, we took off in different directions. I went left, towards the pharmacy. While Rae went straight, going for the registers. When I was in the clothes area, I froze.

Undead, I _refused_ to call them _zombies_, zipped past me.

A few minutes later, I went down the aisle and nabbed two cans of hairspray. Purple colored, Suave brand. Random? Then I turned to leave, our rendezvous point was back at the video game section.

I hoped Rae was alright...

Minutes later, I was shocked to see that she was already waiting. "I opened them already," she held out the open lighters. I took one, then handed her a bottle. "So uh…how we _doing_ this?" she asked.

I grinned. "You'll see..."

Lighter held out, hair spray close to me, we walked out in the open. "_Drink this beer with me,_" I started to sing.

"What?" Rae asked.

"_Get drunk with Charlie Scene_," I shook the hair spray. "_Sense this urgency. Cause I ain't tryna' get drunk alone_."

Growls, roars, and grunts came through my ears.

"_So don't make me tear it up. You know I don't give a fuck. And I ain't here to shake things up..._" I flicked the lighter on.

"Lena…" Rae moaned. Then three Undead sprinted towards us.

When they were close, I used the hair spray and it went right through the lighter.

Creating my homemade flamethrower.

They screamed when they were covered in flames; they stumbled back. Several seconds later, they fell, but they still squirmed. It was then Rae stepped up and blasted her flamethrower on them. Soon…they stopped moving.

"You were singing Hollywood Undead, weren't you?" she realized.

"Yup," I confirm, kicking an Undead. "Now then, to the _guns_?" I suggested.

She nodded, lowering her HF (homemade flamethrower). And then we gave each other hi-fives.

* * *

"So uh, let's not get _greedy_, 'kay?" I told her, throwing a heavy object to break the glass protecting the weapons. "Oh, _no_ way." I gasped..

"What?" Rae looked up from inspecting ammo, brown eyes curious.

"It's a freaking _Desert Eagle!_ You know, from _Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas_." I announced, picking up the black and golden gun. "Get the bullets for this." I placed it down on the counter.

"Is there an AK-47?" Rae asked, opening some boxes.

"Umm…" I looked around. "Right here," I pulled the beauty out. "My, you are _gorgeous_. Oh, but she doesn't compare to you." I glanced over at the Eagle.

Rae stared over at me. I stared back. "You're weird." she announced.

"Thanks." I told her.

I grabbed another shotgun, the same brand as the one from the cop car...I think. Then I grabbed a 9mm, for Rae. Something nice and easy for her, right?

Anyways…Rae collected all the ammo, and placed them all in a bag. "These things are friggin' _heavy_." I realized with a groan.

Holding out her HF, Rae led us out back into the parking lot; I had to carry the guns AND the ammo bag! When we reached the blue Tahoe I wanted, I ripped open the back door.

And frowned.

I saw a car seat, you know…for babies. It was empty. But it made me sad. This poor family was either forced to evacuate…or _dead_. "Rae, get this out." I stepped aside as she pulled the car seat out, then I slammed all the guns 'n ammo in.

Walking back towards the cop car, I glanced back over to where Rae threw the car seat.

And my eyes saddened again.

* * *

Glad that the Tahoe wasn't even half-way filled (it already had the guns, ammo, and our other crap), I had an idea. I grabbed the keys from the cop car…and stuck them in the ignition of the Tahoe.

And the car roared to life.

"_Nice_," Rae said. I grinned, nodding my head.

"Now: time for a _raid_," I told her. I turned the car off, and we went back into Wal*Mart. We each grabbed a cart. "Don't get stuff that needs to be refrigerated. And…don't be _greedy_." I explained.

She nodded, then we were off.

About an hour later, I pulled down the back door of the Tahoe, heavenly filled with food and supplies. "I seriously hope we're wasting our time..." I said, turning the car on.

"Why?" Rae asked.

"I've changed my mind, going to your house first, it's closer. And I hope to God that someone's there," I explained. "I hope to God that SOMEONE will be there, alive and well. Please…" I changed the gear to drive, and pushed a little on the gas.

"It'll be okay Lena, promise," Rae assured.

We both glanced at each other, and our brown eyes locked. I slightly nodded, then focused on driving.

When we both knew that wasn't really the truth.

* * *

**The two Hollywood Undead songs used were "El Urgencia" and "Tear It Up"**


	4. Destination: Mercy Hospital

"Do you even know where we're _going_?" Rae asked, fumbling with the radio.

"Yeah, we're going to your house," I said, both hands on the wheel of our 'stolen' Tahoe.

"You haven't been in Ohio since, like, _Christmas_. It's _June_," Rae explained.

"But I still know my around…certain places." I told her, turning onto another street.

"Why did your mom even move out to _Colorado_ anyway?" she asked then.

I shrugged, "Heck if I know," I said.

"Do you like living out there?" she asked.

"It's alright..." I admitted.

We were back at the convenient store, and I saw our first Undead friend still laying in the street…definitely dead.

Rae's house was just down the street anyway. We pulled up in front of her white house, and Rae flung out of the car. I grabbed a 9mm, just in case…her mom was…_not_ herself.

Rae busted the door open. "MOM?" she called out, running through the kitchen into the dining room. "KAYLAH? BOBBY?" she asked out for her younger siblings names.

I entered the house slowly, and instead of following Rae forward, I turned left and went downstairs to the basement. "Aunt Moriah? Makaylah?" I whispered, aiming out my gun, but the basement was empty. Sighing unhappily, I plodded back upstairs. "Nothing." I told Rae, who looked horrified.

"They're okay, right? They evacuated…" she looked down for a moment, then ran down to her room.

I thought about calling out for Bobby, just in case. But he's a four-month old _baby_. When Rae returned she said, "Let's go."

* * *

When I backed up the car (which was a fail) Rae almost screamed when one of the radio stations sparked to life.

"_This is an international emergency broadcast_," it boomed.

"WHOA!" I said, stopping the car.

"_If anyone can hear this, this is not a drill. The closest refuge and rescue is at Mercy hospital in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. I repeat, the closest refuge and rescue is at Mercy hospital in Fairfield, Pennsylvania_." it spoke.

Rae and I were silent.

"...did he just say rescue in PA?" I asked.

"Yeah," Rae confirmed.

"...WE'RE GONNA BE _SAVED!_ PENNSYLVANIA! OH, MY _GOD!_ WE NEED _DIRECTIONS!_" I screamed with joy. Rae started laughing.

"_Welcome to MapQuest, where is your destination?_"

"What?" Rae and I said in unison.

Then the radio _popped_ out, moving down, just as a computer-like _thing_ moved out. The bright screen said only thing: MAPQUEST.

"Oh, no way," I said.

_"Starting point?"_ the computer asked.

"Uh…Toledo, Ohio," I spoke clearly.

The screen changed, _"Destination?"_ it asked.

"Fairfield, Pennsylvania," I told it. Rae looked at me, and our brown eyes locked for a moment.

_"Calculating,"_ it announced, making the screen change.

It revealed a map, I saw Toledo, and a long blue line scriggling down to PA…the bottom of the state. "Look," Rae pointed. "It says it's a seven hour, nine minute drive! We can get there quick." she sounded excited.

"Four-hundred and nine miles," I moaned. "And Rae?" I looked at her.

"What?" she asked.

"It's gonna be more than seven hours," I told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"We'd make it in seven hours if we drove non-stop, and we can't do that." I said.

"Why?" she demanded.

"Are you retarded?" I asked her. "We'll have to stop to _eat, sleep_, go to the _bathroom, gas_, dumb ass!" I explained.

She looked dumbfounded. "Oh..." she said.

"God give me strength," I mumbled, pushing the START button on the MapQuest computer.

The screen said to drive south for the time being. "Thank God it's not like those GPS things, with that annoying voice. This one's text only." I sighed happily, then began to drive. I was relieved, we were gonna be _rescued_.

_So I believed…_

* * *

Sometime later, I finally arrived on the interstate. During so, Rae cleared space in the backseat and fell asleep, smart enough to have gotten a blanket back at Wal*Mart. I turned the AC down, so she wouldn't freeze.

"I'm sorry for calling you retarded, and a dumb ass. I…I know you're scared. I am too... more than anything. But I promise you, we'll get to that hospital, we'll get rescued. And we'll get to see your mom, and everyone else. And everything will be okay," I said to her, even though she was out.

"Even Nana too? She'll be there?" I heard her ask.

"Yeah, Nana'll be there too. Everyone's probably _waiting_ for us I bet." I assured.

"Yeah," I heard her shift, and then I knew she was going back to sleep.

That night, I pulled off the interstate and drove into a place called Beaver Falls. I found a Shell gas station, and pulled up. "Wake up." I leaned back and gave Rae a hard shove.

"Huh?" she jerked upwards. I could hardly see her I was so tired. "Are we there?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"No, we're in some small town. We'll be there tomorrow. Listen, I'm gonna get the gas running, then you'll guard the car while I check the store, make sure it's safe." I explained.

She groaned, then sat up, her blond highlights looking dark in the night. "Why are you going in?" she asked.

"I'm gonna piss my pants if I don't go." I told her, searching the back of the car for the Desert Eagle. I handed her the 9mm, then we exited the Tahoe. After I got the gas running, Rae was stretching while I went inside the store.

It was empty, which was fortunate. I sighed happily when I saw the bathroom. After doing business, I went back out and switched places with Rae as she went inside. When the gas was done, I told Rae that she was on guard duty. "Wake me up as soon as you see light in the sky. DO _NOT,_ FALL ASLEEP." I explained.

"I won't," she promised, getting in the drivers seat. I crawled to her backseat bed, and got comfortable. And I passed out within seconds, letting the darkness of the night engulf me.

* * *

**So, they're on their way to Mercy hospital. How lucky we're in Ohio and Mercy's in Pennsylvania LMAO. I think we all know what's gonna happen, and it's not gonna end so well, is it?**

**BTW, random FYI, I do not live in CO anymore;( am back in Ohio!;) not Toledo though. Won't say where. Creepers.  
**


	5. Crash and Burn, You're Not Alone

Rae shook my shoulder to wake me. "It's light," she whispered. I groaned, then turned my phone on, which only had one battery left, probably not even that. It was almost 6am.

"Let's eat first," I suggested, sitting up to stretch.

"Okay," she agreed. We both went to the far back and searched for food. I grabbed a bottle of Aquafina, and I saw a loaf of bread, and a jar of peanut butter.

"Really?" I said. Rae saw, then shrugged. "Grab me a knife." I ordered, lounging for the items.

I chugged half the water down in one drink, then made myself a plain peanut butter sandwich…three of them. Rae made a couple, then munched on a bag of Doritos with a Mountain Dew. Original.

Afterwards, I opened my suitcase for my brush. "Here," Rae handed me a bottle of spray.

"Huh?" I asked.

"It's like…shampoo spray. You use it on your hair if you don't shower,and it doesn't get greasy." she explained.

I snatched in greedily. "Thanks," I said. "Now look away." I ordered.

"Why?" she asked.

"I'm gonna change clothes and stuff." I told her.

* * *

After all that, I looked at the review mirror and sighed. I looked tired, brown eyes weary. And my almost dark brown hair was all scraggly. I ran my brush through it, used about half of the spray, then put my hair up in a ponytail, then handed the spray to Rae as she was fixing up her hair, keeping it down.

"You're such a blonde," I joked, staring at her highlights.

All set to go, Rae climbed into the passenger seat as I turned the car on. Soon we were back on the interstate and on our way to Fairfield again.

About an hour later, Rae pointed out the sign that said Welcome to Fairfield, and grinned wide.

I sighed happily, then asked the MapQuest to direct us to Mercy hospital. The place was an ex-war zone; cars flipped everywhere, destroyed, everything a mess.

We were going down what seemed to be the main part of the city when I saw Rae tense up. "Nervous?" I asked with a laugh.

"Stop the car," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"Stop the car," she repeated.

"Okay…?" I pushed on the brake. She turned the AC off. "What is it?" I asked.

"Shh, _listen_," she explained. I looked out my window, trying to hear it.

And then I did.

I looked out the far back window and saw Undead, _everywhere_. I jerked forward to drive, but stopped. Looking out the window shield I saw more coming at us from the front.

Rae screamed.

I pushed down on the gas. "Hold on!" I yelled, driving forward. As I ran some over Rae kept screaming and we jumped in the air. "The gun, the _gun_!" I yelled. I violently turned the car right onto another street, and we almost tipped over when we swerved.

These bastards are _fast_.

"What do I do?" Rae asked.

"GUN!" I screamed, looking at the GPS.

I had to turn around. "Hang on," I warned. I pushed down on the brakes and moved the steering wheel around in the left direction. I almost fell on Rae as we turned around, and the car stopped. I breathed in and out loudly, panting. "_Gun_." I said again.

"What?" she sounded exasperated.

"The AK! The _fucking _AK!" I yelled.

She flipped up and jumped to the back, rummaging for the weapon. "Get all the supplies from the back-back, and put em in the backseat." I instructed.

"Why?" she asked.

"Shut the hell up and _do_ it!" I screeched.

She threw everything from the far back into the backseat. "Get down." I said then, grabbing the Desert Eagle. Rae did, so I aimed the gun at the back window and shot, shattering the glass.

"Get ready to shoot." I told her, turning back around. She cocked the '47.

"What are we gonna do?" she asked.

"I'm gonna drive to the hospital. You _shoot_," I explained. She whimpered a little, then moved towards the back window. "Ready?" I asked.

She said nothing. I put on my seat belt, then I pushed on the gas and drove. I turned back on the first street. "Shoot!" I cried, driving faster. I heard the AK blasting just seconds later.

Ten minutes later, I looked at the GPS and it said we'd arrive at the hospital in ten more minutes. Rae stopped shooting.

Either she was _dead_, or there no more _Un_dead.

I looked at the rear view mirror and saw her alive and well, gun held close to her chest. As I focused on the road again, she screamed. "LENA! SOMETHING'S COMING!"

"What is it?" I demanded.

"IT'S GONNA KILL US!" she screamed, throwing the gun down.

I looked back at the rear view mirror, and the most tremendous _thing_ ever. I don't know what it was, but it was _big_.

And it was pink.

It ran on small legs and hulk-sized arms. It ran _fast_.

"Go, go, go! _Lena, go!_" Rae cried, trying to climb back up towards the front. But the pink hulk was getting closer and closer.

"Shit..." I mumbled, it was no use outrunning it. "Fuck. Me." I stated.

The pink-hulk came up, and uppercut our Tahoe, sending the back of the car flying upwards, and we went down. The car flipped a few times, then the hulk slammed it again.

We rolled down the street a few more times before stopping, our car upside down. I groaned, looking out to see the hulk run at us, and I blacked out from the pain.

* * *

"_Tank!" _

"_Be careful!"_

"_Are those survivors?"_

"_We gotta help 'em!"_

"_Clear the area!"_

My eyes opened slowly. I was still upside down, the seat belt keeping me up. "Rae?" I choked, coughing. I strained to look over, but she wasn't in sight.

_She was still in the back._

"_Rae!_" I cried, letting the tears fall. I was in so much pain; my head, neck, arms, legs, chest, everything. I latched my hands on the seat belt, knowing it would hurt when I unbuckled it. "Oh God..." I moaned.

"_Kid!_" someone hissed then. I looked over and saw a man. Though I was viewing him upside down, I could see he had blue eyes.

And I think…I think…he had a _cigarette_ in his mouth.

"_Help_ me," I begged, "_Please_..." I gasped for air, but it hurt to breathe so I cried out painfully.

"Shh, it's okay I'm gonna get you out," he said to me. "I'm gonna undo your buckle—" he started.

"No! _No, no, no,_ please!" I said, cringing.

"Ready…on three," he said. I tensed. "One…tw—" he stopped and clicked the button to unbuckle me. I screamed as I fell but the man caught me, and slowly pulled me out. "I gotcha." he said.

"You…you didn't say _three_…" I whispered.

"Anticipation is the worst." he advised.

I groaned in pain, then looked at the car. "Rae…she's in the back…please help." I explained.

"Alright. _Don't_ move." he placed me down on the ground, then got up.

I looked to the left. There I saw three people guarding the area with guns. I saw a girl, wearing a red jacket and jeans. Dark hair in a ponytail, I couldn't see her face. There was a bald man with dark skin, who looked much scared, wearing a white shirt with a red tie.

And the third was a man wearing a vest, his arms tattooed completely. Reminding me of my oldest step-brother in Colorado. Well, my mom never married her boyfriend but I consider him my brother.

"Guys!" the first man called out, and they all plodded over. "She's _out_." he told them.

"Is she okay? _Rae_!" I said, straining to see them.

"She's breathing, but it looks like she hit her head pretty hard." the old guy explained.

"Oh God..." I whined, crying again.

The tattooed man went down to me. "Anything broken?" he asked, strapping his rifle to his back. I shook my head.

Saying nothing, he lifted me up and held me bridal style. "Let's get over to that apartment complex." the girl spoke up. The man with the red tie grabbed Rae, and they carried us inside.

"Who are you?" I softly asked the man carrying me.

"Fellow survivors," he explained. "And we've been left for dead, just like you."


	6. And Then There Were More

_"Are you awake?"_

I opened my eyes and saw blurriness. As it cleared, I saw the girl with the red jacket looking at me. She had blue eyes, and a mark on her forehead. I nodded at her, then groaned.

"I did my best to patch you up, you were bleeding on your head pretty bad. Does anything feel broken?" she explained.

I shook my head. "Where's Rae?" I asked.

"Here," I saw her leaning against a wall.

And realized we were outside. On a rooftop. "You okay?" I asked her.

She nodded, "My shoulder's dislocated." she told me, stiffening up.

"We can't fix it until we're in a safe room." the dark man announced, who was sitting next to Rae.

"What's _that_?" I asked.

"There are only a few safe rooms in certain cities. They're small places where the Infected can't get to us." the girl explained.

"Infected? …you mean the _zombies_?" I asked. She nodded.

"Now before we leave," the old guy with the cigarette spoke up. "Why don't you tell us _who_ are you are." he demanded. I sat up from laying on the ground, then winced a little.

"My name is Arlena," I started, I looked at Rae. "Her name's Raeann," I added. "We're cousins." I told them.

"Teenagers?" the old-timer guessed.

"Fourteen, she's thirteen." I confirmed.

He nodded, "How did you know to come here?" he asked.

"Radio broadcast. It said rescue was in Fairfield, at the Mercy hospital," I explained. "But there was this…thing. It hit our car, and…ugh." I closed my eyes for a second.

"It was a Tank," the girl announced.

"What?" I said.

"I'll show you," she held out her hand. She helped me up and led me to the edge of the building, where I peered over and saw the pink hulk dead on the street several feet below.

"Tank?" I said. The girl nodded. She led me back and I sat down next to Rae. "Who _are_ you all?" I asked then.

"I'm Zoey," the girl introduced.

"Name's Bill," the old-timer said.

"I'm Louis," the man with the tie said sweetly.

"And he's Francis," Zoey motioned to the tattooed man.

"In our car. We have supplies. Food, guns." I said then.

"Me and Francis will go," Bill announced, stepping forwards.

I got up. "I'll help," I offered, not asking for permission. Bill nodded, then led the way to a hole in the wall, leading into an apartment.

"Stay behind us." Francis ordered, and I nodded.

Rae and I exchanged looks, and followed the others away. With quiet steps, it took us ten minutes until we came across a hole in the floor. Bill went down first, gave the all clear, then Francis jumped. I sat down on the edge and jumped down, Francis helping me.

I grunted when my feet hit the floor, I was still in a bit of pain. We moved straight, turned, then went down some stairs. And we exited out into an alleyway. Bill crept forward, auto-rifle out. We breached the exit of the alley and I saw my flipped over Tahoe.

Bill looked both ways, then we sprinted forwards. "Hurry." he whispered, Francis joining him in guarding me. I went to the back, and climbed in. I saw that all the ammo was still in one bag. I grabbed it, then placed it out on the ground. I saw the AK, snatched that.

I found my military book bag, grabbed that, and nabbed Rae's flap bag. I rifled through these things. I tossed out all the books, and frowned when I got to my DS, with all my games.

I looked to make sure they weren't watching, I placed my electronic back in my bag, I kept Rae's DS in her bag as well, shh.

I saw food everywhere. I nabbed the bread and peanut butter. I shoved all of this in my and Rae's bags. I grabbed the shampoo-spray, maybe Zoey would like some of that.

I saw a Mountain Dew, and a Dr Pepper. Probably flat—I grabbed 'em anyway, a special treat for me and Rae, shh. I found my suitcase and zipped it open.

Aww, my netbook. I hated having to part with it, my iPod too. I grabbed a few clothing items, and that was that.

I crawled back out to jam-pack all of this stuff. Then I went back in and crawled up to the front, and took my Desert Eagle, and the 9mm. Then I exited the car, and called out for the guys.

I handed Bill the weapons and ammo. I gave Francis Rae's bag, and put mine on my back.

* * *

Minutes later, we were back on the rooftop. Bill inspected our weapons, then laid them on a table. "What's the plan?" Louis asked.

"Fix her shoulder," he shot a look at Rae. "And get the hell out of here, head for the hospital." he explained. I grabbed my Eagle, and the 9mm for Rae.

"Figured your arm'll hurt too much for the AK." I told her, sitting down.

"What'd you get from the car?" she asked lowly.

"Some food, clothes, brushes, that spray shit, and…" I lowered my voice. "Our DS's." I said.

She smiled. "No iPods?" she asked.

"Nope, no laptop either. It's probably _smashed_ anyway." I said.

"Time to go," Bill announced, facing us.

Rae winced as Zoey knelt down to her. Francis, Bill, and Louis (who grabbed the AK), all aimed at the hole in the wall.

I realized why they were prepared to shoot. I looked at Rae.

_Her scream will attract the zombies._

"Are you ready, Rae?" Zoey asked, looking sad. Rae whimpered, but nodded. Zoey grabbed her arm lightly. I took hold of her other hand.

Zoey pushed up, and twisted.

_"AHHH!"_

She was crying. I tried to quiet her as I helped her up. She held the 9mm in her other hand, though I knew she was in no shape to shoot. I took it from her and handed it to Zoey.

"Double pistol?" I suggested. She nodded, then held out both 9mm.

I helped Rae slip her flap-bag on, then we stood behind the others. "If we meet anyone, tell 'em we're cops." Francis joked.

"Too late for _that_," Bill said, and then stiffened.

We all did—I heard the familiar sounds of the Infected-Undead-Zombies.

Whatever they are…

"Let's go." Bill said, stepping inside the apartment. I nodded at Rae, she looked fearful a bit, still in pain, she was holding her other arm. And we all advanced forward.

* * *

As soon as we all jumped through the huge hole down onto the first floor, Infected came at us from everywhere.

Rae screamed, I stood in front of her and started shooting with the others. "AH, HELL!" I cried, and lowered my gun. The whole room was cleared.

"Keep moving," Zoey said.

"We can go through the subway tunnels to get to the hospital faster." Bill announced.

"Tunnels. Subway. _Wonderful_..." I said.

We reached the alley. "You okay?" I asked Rae, noticing she was lagging. She nodded, then stayed close to me. Strangely, no infected were visible in the alleyway.

But when we reached the street…where our flipped Tahoe was…

Everywhere.

"Quiet. If you hit a car it'll set off their alarm…" Bill warned. I nodded in understandability.

And the bullet wars began.

As we raced down the street, Bill and Zoey ran into a nearby store, looking for supplies. "Over there!" Louis suddenly pointed. Me and Rae's brown eyes looked over to a sign with a subway on it, with an arrow pointing down a set of ruined stairs.

The subway tunnels.

Excited at this, I accidentally shot the last bullet of my Desert Eagle…and hit a car.

The alarm went off. "Oh _shit_," Louis and I moaned in unison. "Sorry!" I hissed.

"Forget about it!" Bill said, running up. Zoey looked down the set to the tunnels.

"I see a safe room down there!" she announced.

"MOVE!" Francis ordered. Suddenly Rae lightly tapped my shoulder, and pointed forwards towards the end of the street, which was blockaded. I looked up with horror and saw at least a hundred zombies headed straight for us.

Instinct told me to run, to get to the safe room. But I was _frozen_. "Lena!" Rae yanked my arm, but I wouldn't budge. The infected were getting closer to us by then.

_"Arlena!"_ Rae screamed my real name.

I blinked, looked at her, and shriveled up my face, "Let's go." I said, going down the set to the safe room. As soon as we were in, Bill closed shut the large red door and locked it up. The zombies slammed against it, but they were too weak.

"We're safe, for now." Zoey assured us.

We sighed and sat down. "You okay?" I asked Rae. She nodded.

"Here," Zoey held out a bottle of pain pills. "For your shoulder and arm." she explained.

Rae took the bottle, "Thanks." she said. I surfed through my army backpack and pulled out a water bottle.

Rae popped open the pills, took the water, and swallowed a couple. She took another drink, handed me the bottle, then I took a long sip. "Ahh…" I said, feeling a tad satisfied.

"Look, a bathroom." Francis announced, going in first. We all waited our turn to do business.

Time later, maybe a half an hour? It was time to go. All of the guns were reloaded, and Rae said that the medicine was working.

"I can't wait to get out of here…" I muttered as Bill opened the door was a direct lead to the subway tunnels.

Off we went.

Right as we plodded down towards the exit of the tunnels, the most nastiest thing ever happened.

I saw a big, fat, effin' ugly zombie run up, making bobbling noises. I held out my Eagle. "Don't shoot! It's a Boomer!" Zoey cried.

I ignored her and shot. I was supposed to know what a _Boomer_ was? And then I realized that it was mistake. The zombie _exploded_, and all his guts splattered all on us.

"_AHH!_ OHMYGOD, _WHATTHEFUCK!_" I screamed, trying to rub off all the slob. Rae was screaming just as loud, she was covered in Boomer remains.

As Zoey whipped out a rag to help us, the guys started shooting. Zoey wiped the slob off my face, she said "You okay?" then wiped my arms.

"I'm sorry, I'm _sorry_," I stuttered.

"It's okay! You didn't know." Zoey assured as she cleaned off Rae's face.

"Let's go!" Bill yelled, charging forwards. I held out my Eagle and followed, Rae close behind.

"Way to _screw_ that up Lena," she mumbled.

"Oh shut _up_! I didn't kn—" I couldn't finish.

"Quiet. We gotta go through it..." Bill whispered as he stepped onto a wrecked subway. Soon we all lightly stepped on it to follow.

When we exited, more zombies came at us. I ran outta ammo, so I had to stay back. Rae screamed when a couple infected came right up at us. I smacked one with the butt of my gun, and punched the other with my fist.

"Oww…" I shook my hand afterwards.

"Go," Rae said, as the others paced forwards. I picked up my legs and soon caught up.

We arrived at a man made—scratch that, _zombie_ made tunnel, cut through it, and arrived on the opposite side of the tunnels. We ducked through another sub and zoomed through it.

When we exited it, I saw an open door that led to a deserted parking-lot type room. "Ah dude…" I said, as I looked around. "This is like _Dawn Of The Dead_, you know?" I said to Rae.

"Yeah…" she remembered. "When they heard all the noises and it turned out to be a _dog_." she explained.

"Wasn't his name _Chip_ or something?" I asked.

"The ending of that movie _sucked_." Louis suddenly said to us.

"Yeah it did. They all died in the end." I said unhappily.

_Which could be us._

We found more stairs, which led us to a large factory-like room. "See that steel door?" Bill observed, pointed across the room. "We need to shoot the switch to move it up." he explained.

"And lemme' guess," Francis started. "Soon as it opens hordes of zombies are gonna be everywhere." he realized.

I gulped._ Hordes of zombies._ I didn't like the sound of that.

"We get through this, then we make it to the sewers. Get through them, we make it to the hospital." Bill explained. I sighed happily.

"Ew! Sewer! Isn't that where like, _rats_, and _dirty_ water, are?" Rae asked me.

I snorted. "Raeann," I said. "I don't care about huge _rats_ and shit-ass _water_." I told her. "Right now I'm more concerned about zombies trying to _eat_ us, you know?" I corrected.


	7. Apocalypse Losers

After we made sure the factory-like room was all clear, Bill flipped the switch to open up the steel door.

Rae; nearly crippled and helpless stood behind me and Zoey, she still couldn't do anything helpful.

About thirty seconds later, infected emerged from everywhere. From the open door and from the balconies above. Rae clutched onto the back of my shirt.

"Here we go," I said, imitating Rubi Malone from the game _WET_. Great game.

Right as we all started shooting, I felt Rae's clutch on my shirt loosen. And then I heard her scream.

I turned around to see her being dragged away, all wrapped up in...a...really...big _tongue_.

"RAE!" I cried.

"Smoker!" Zoey announced. Francis shot the 'smoker' zombie dead. Before I could go down to Rae, more infected came at us.

"Don't these things know how to leave us _alone_?" I asked loudly and annoyingly.

"Nope," Francis said.

Louis and Bill ran up towards the door to make the all-clear. I saw that Rae had unwrapped the large and long tongue off her, and she came up, terrified and crying.

"Uh, Rae..." I said, looking at her highlighted blonde hair. She blinked, and then nodded.

It was all covered in slobbery tongue stuff.

* * *

We all trekked past the steel door, and up the stairs that came into view. It led us up onto the balconies. Bill lead the way into the open door we saw, and followed him in.

It looked like a security control room—mini TV's everywhere. "Ammo!" Bill announced. While they inspected the ammo, I went over to the TV's.

I sighed, and realized that I was dead-beat tired, ready to drop.

"Let's move." they went into the door that had a neon green lit up 'exit' sign on it. We loomed out into a dim lit set of hallways. Rae and I waited out while all the others went into all the rooms to find supplies.

"First aid," Zoey threw me the small red package.

"Cool," I zipped it open, "Need anything?" I asked Rae. She held out her right arm, flipped it around, and I saw a streak of thick blood streaming down. "What happened?" I asked, taking out a bundle load of rolled bandages, gauze ones?

"That thing that _grabbed_ me," Rae reminded.

"They called it a Smoker," I told her, wrapping up her bleeding arm. "Lift up your sore arm close to your shoulder that was dislocated," I pointed at her left shoulder. "And I'll wrap more of this on that, kinda like a cast you know?" I explained.

"Okay," she said.

A few minutes later, we were good to go. Right as I was about to step forwards, I heard a _helicopter_. As we heard it flying away, someone on a speaker horn said to get to Mercy Hospital.

"We better hurry," Bill said, picking up the pace.

We broke out of the halls, went down some stairs, and exited to the outside. I was the first out, and Rae screamed again.

"Look!" she pointed. I looked over and saw one of the fat ass zombies, Boomer right? I shot him, and he went ka_bloom_.

I looked up to the left in the sky, and saw the hospital a long distance away. The mercy sign was green, and spotlights were moving back and forth over what I assumed was the rooftop, which was _seriously_ high up.

I saw another light from a pawn shop, which I then realized was a safe house. As I stepped forward, infected came at us.

These things were _seriously_ starting to irritate me, coming out of nowhere.

* * *

In the pawnshop, Francis and Louis blockaded the door and windows. I immediately ran to the back for the bathroom. When I returned, I helped Rae take off her pack. "You gonna be able to rinse your hair with one hand?" I asked.

She nodded, and went inside. I placed both our packs down, and I sat in a chair. "Need this?" Zoey handed me a piece of a mirror, about the size of a cake.

"Thanks," I said, taking it and looking at myself.

Oh hell, I looked _horrible_! Blood was all over my face, along with leftover Boomer slob from the subway making my brown eyes look nearly green. My almost dark brown hair looked like it survived a tornado.

_Three_ of them, one after another.

I knocked on the bathroom door, "Rae? Can you hand me some paper towels? Get a couple of them wet?" I asked. The door opened, and I stepped in. She was using a paper towel to clean off her face, her hair looked a tad bit better since the Smoker slob was gone.

I pulled out paper towels, and wet some of them. Rae scooted over so we could share the mirror. We cleaned off our faces, and our arms, and whatever else just felt nasty.

I stepped out to give her privacy, and I opened my pack to grab my brush. I ran it through my hair, and then pulled it into a ponytail, making my neck finally breathe.

When Rae finally came back out, she grabbed her brush while the others took turns in the bathroom. "Thirsty?" I asked, throwing Rae a water. She chugged down nearly half of it, and I finished it off, then I chucked it across the room, making me and Rae laugh like crazy loons.

"I wanna go to bed," Rae whined, looking out the window at the night sky.

"Can't. We're so close to the hospital. Sleep on the chopper." I explained. I turned on my phone and nearly died when I saw it had service. "Take a pic with me." I said.

"Why?" Rae asked.

"You'll see," I said, as she went up next to me. I took the picture of us, then sent the picture to my Facebook account. "_Me and Rae surviving the zombie apocalypse._" I said aloud, typing in those exact words for the caption of the picture.

"Seriously?" Rae asked, brown eyes narrowed.

"Oh, yeah," I chimed.

"You're a _loser_," she decided.

"A loser keeping us _alive_," I reminded.

"...point taken." she agreed. I had made the photo my profile picture.

About ten minutes later, the six of us faced the exit door.

"Hospital's just past this waterworks." Bill announced.

"Sewer hole," Francis corrected.

"Shit-ass water and large rats," I added, Rae nodding.

"This is not gonna be sanitary..." Louis said sadly.

"Let's go..." Bill opened the door.


	8. This Isn't Sanitary

**I'm cutting out the part where you have to pass through the alley, down some streets, and up a lift which attracts a horde, & whatever else comes after it. Onwards to the sewer ;D**

* * *

"Oh, my God, _ewwww_!" was the first thing I said when I saw the nasty ass water everywhere.

"I'm not going anywhere _near_ that stuff," Rae said, going over to the sides.

"I'm with you," I agreed. We went in the direction of some Undead, where we saw a tiny tunnel, and cut through it.

"This is so _disgusting_," Rae moaned.

"I would literally, throw _up_ if I fell in that," I admitted, Rae nodding in agreement. I saw a dead end, and fired off my Desert Eagle at some Undead. "This is getting old." I said hastily.

Going the other direction, turning left, there were craploads of undead, and like I said before.

Really annoying now.

Francis popped a Boomer he saw from afar, saving us another slob experience. Zoey and I saw another one of those long tongue things, Smokers-? Zoey shot it dead before I could.

We found another tunnel, and went through it, crouching like rats along the way. As soon as we exited the lil tunnel, I heard it.

The crying.

"Francis, is that you or the sewer?" Bill asked.

"Hey! That was uncalled for!" Francis said angrily.

"You guys hear that?" I asked.

"Shit, it's a witch," Bill realized.

"A _witch_?" I repeated.

"Stay alert, if you see it...run like hell." Zoey advised.

Wonderful, now there's witches.

What next, flying zombies? Or ones that jump like kangaroos?

We went uphill, and then downhill, and I saw a door. I opened it, and saw nothing at first. I spotted some ammo boxes, and surfed through them. "9mm ammo," I said, tossing the box to Zoey.

"Sweet," she said, stuffing it in her bag.

"We can't waste time." Bill said, exiting. We all followed. The crying was really freaking me out now.

"Hey, wait!" Rae cried, and we all stopped. "There's a tunnel here." she pointed forwards. We all went back in the room and saw it.

"Nice job, kid." Bill praised, entering the tunnel. I patted Rae on her back, and followed.

When exiting, there were more zombies, and an uphill path, which we took. The smell was finally getting to me now, and I tried to resist gagging.

Reaching the top of the uphill, I saw a red ladder going up. "Oh, thank you lord." I said, as Francis climbed up first.

He gave the all clear, and we all climbed up, one by one.

* * *

Okay Francis _lied_, as soon as we were up outside, Undead came at us from everywhere. My Eagle ran out of bullets, so I just started smacking them with the butt of the gun.

When it was cleared, I looked up to see the hospital just about two-hundred feet away. "Oh," I breathed, "Finally."

When we ran to the entrance, I hopped in the back of a wrecked ambulance, found some bandages of all kinds, and jacked them. I jumped back out, and we ran inside the building.

A safe room was right behind the receptionist desk. "Hurry!" I said, using all my strength to make myself run. Too rushed to go around, I hopped over the desk, nearly slipping, and went in the room. As soon as everyone else was in, Bill and Francis started to lock it up.

I sighed, put my book bag down, and I dropped to the floor.

And...I think I fainted.

When I opened my eyes, I groaned. "You alright?" Louis asked. I sat up too fast, and realized I needed the bathroom. I searched for it, found it behind me, turned and ran in, slamming shut the door. I held up my ponytail, knelt down, and emptied my stomach in the toilet.

After flushing, I searched for a mirror. I found one on the wall, but it was faded. I saw that grease made my hair look grayish a little. And I saw that my brown eyes were no longer green looking, as they were back in the pawn shop.

Now they were completely metallic _gray_. I guess it was lack of food, water, and sleep, doing all of this to me. Zombies were a side effect.

Coming back out, Rae handed me some water. "Thanks," I said, starting to chug it all down.

"Look at this," Rae pointed. I looked over to see a foam soap dispenser. I placed my water down, and squirted out some soap, and scrubbed my hands. "Want some food?" Rae offered, taking out the loaf of bread.

"As much as I want some...I can't." I explained, tightening the cap on the water, then put it away.

Rae looked terrible too. She also still had her ponytail up, and I saw that her brown hair was nowhere to be seen, the blond highlights had taken over. And her eyes were gray too.

I hope that the helicopter is up there waiting for us.

"Time to go." Bill announced, going towards the exit door. Zoey handed me a 9mm.

"Thanks," I said, putting away my Eagle. "How long was I out for?" I asked then.

"About twenty minutes, a little forced power nap." Louis explained, cracking a laugh.

The door opened, and we took off for the hospital maze.

* * *

It took us forever to make it through. When we reached the elevator, Bill said the noise of it will draw a horde. Not something I needed right now.

I was too weak to participate, so when the elevator opened, I went in and sat in a corner, not caring if a zombie would come in right now. I already felt like death anyway.

When the gunshots faded, the others entered the elevator. "Up we go." Louis said childishly, pushing the button.

"You call this a zombie apocalypse? This is a candle..." Bill was rambling, but I didn't hear. I leaned my head back and shut my eyes.

I was so damn tired, I could slip into a freaking _coma_ right now.

When the 'ding' rang, we realized it only took us up twenty-eight floors.

I really didn't wanna get up, but I did anyway. I felt frightful, knowing we were pretty high up. We were in an open warehouse-like area, and we moved forwards quietly. We passed a couple steel gates, and I wondered why they were there.

We found a room, that led back in the building, and as soon as we went in...I heard crying again. We went down some hallways, and I freaking saw the witch, crying her eyes out.

"What the fu..." I whispered.

"Shh..." Bill said.

"What do we do-?" Louis asked.

"We kill it," I fired off my 9mm. Bad idea, as usual.

The witch growled, and lunged at me, knocking me to the ground. Before anyone reacted, it clawed my right arm. It took my breath away for a moment.

"OWWW! YOU _BITCH_!" I kicked its face, and watched it go flying back. Okay it didn't fly back. I just wanted to say it.

I flipped up, grabbed Bill's shotgun, and started blasting. I grinned as it finally fell, dead. I threw the gun back to Bill, and looked my scratch.

"Oh, my god, oh, my god." I said frantically. "Am I _infected_? Am I gonna turn into a zombie, like in _Resident Evil_?" I asked.

"No, you're fine." Zoey assured. I sighed in relief. We kept going, and we found a ladder, which led up to the roof, where rescue was waiting, hopefully.

"Will the helicopter be there? Or a phone at least?" Rae asked.

"We'll find out as soon as we get up there." I replied.


	9. Rooftop Phenomenon

_Mercy hospital, pick up the radio if you are there._

Soon as we entered the little room on the roof, I grabbed the device. "Hello—?" I said weakly.

_"You made it! All you need to do is hold out until I get there. But, I need you to prepare. The only way I can land is if you are ready. Call me back when you are."_

Rummaging through all of the supplies, I loaded up my Eagle, thankfully. But, what exactly are we preparing for?

I looked down to see a slide of blood, flies surrounding it, and two corpses of undead.

"Ew..."

When we were ready, I took the radio again. _"Okay, I am on my way, I'll be there in fifteen minutes tops."_

The line went dead. It was showtime.

* * *

Rae and I at the window, the other four towards the back, we were aiming our guns and _ready_. When I saw the first undead, I blasted. Rae had to shoot slowly, since her left arm still had on the cast I made.

These damn undead kept coming up from the ladder we rose from. Anywhere else, I didn't know how they got up here.

It was then I realized how quiet it was.

_Too_ quiet.

_Much_ too quiet...

"Lena?"

"Yeah?" I looked at my blonde cousin.

"We're gonna die."

"What?"

She stared out of the window, so I moved my brown eyes in the same direction. And I understood what she meant. There was a Tank heading for us. Also known as a Pink Hulk.

"Sonuva bitch," I gaped.

At least someone was smart. When the hulk came close, Rae threw out a lit up molotov.

Whoa.

It instantly reminded me of _Supernatural_, where Castiel threw one at Michael, making him disappear, in the season 5 finale.

Only the hulk didn't disappear—it just pissed him off more.

When it broke open the double doors, I jumped over the window edge to the outside. Grabbing a rifle along the way.

I ran over to the door, and used as many rounds as I could before the worst happened—

The hulk slammed me with its namesake arms.

My mind went blank right after, so it reminded me of an ATV accident I had when I was eleven. My dad was driving down a dirt path, some other riders on front of us, spitting dust in our faces.

Well thanks the dust, my dad didn't see the ditch. So he went in, and like I said, my mind went blank. I don't remember how, but we were up in the air, and we fell off and slid about ten feet.

Bruised arms and hips for a _week_ after that.

When I opened my eyes, I didn't move. I saw undead run past me, obviously thought I was long gone.

With this pain, I wished I _was_. I realized I was up against a concrete wall, feeling agony. I heard a lot of gunfire, telling me the others were still alive. So I forced myself up, only to fall again.

My back felt like it was broken. My eyes were wide when I heard whirring. I looked up to see the helicopter, preparing to land.

_GET UP!_

I sat up, with much displeasure. No way I was standing, but at least I was up. I crawled over towards the helipad, only to see something _insane_.

A Tank ran by me, to the edge of the roof, and freaking jumped off. It latched on to the chopper, and it went down. I heard an explosion, and I knew it was gone.

_Our rescue was dead._

* * *

Minutes later, I felt arms pull me up. "Arlena?" it was Zoey. "I have bad news."

"We're screwed...aren't we?" I guessed.

"Like bolts and nails. Damnit!" Bill threw down his gun.

"Where's Rae?" I asked.

"Looking for supplies, she's in a little shock after what just happened." Zoey explained.

I nodded, then sighed. Then I heard crying. "What the hell..." I looked behind me to see the witch, from before. Shit. It looked hellbent on revenge, towards me. "Oh, crap." was all I could say.

"WITCH!" Zoey cried, firing her gun. I stood up, and made a decision.

Our rescue was gone, the whole city's filled with zombies.

Dying didn't sound so bad now.

I ran forward. "What the—?" I heard Francis.

"Arlena, no!" Zoey screeched.

I collided with the witch. She clawed my face, and it felt that my right cheek was ripped off. I managed a punch, but it hardly worked.

_"PIPE BOMB!"_

...

...

...

Slow down.

I had about three seconds to make up my mind.

I could stay right here, and blow up with the witch. _Or_, I could get up and escape the blast.

Decisions, decisions...

_Get up._

I headbutted the witch, which hurt, but I flipped up while she was temporarily dazed. Right as I turned to run, I felt the boom on my back.

The blast made me fly forwards, and I landed on the ground, on my side. Jeez, couldn't I take enough injuries in one freaking day?

* * *

"What do we do now?"

"We can't stay here, it's not safe."

"Arlena can't go anywhere at the moment, unless you wanna _carry_ her?"

"Don't forget Rae's cast, as well."

"This blows..."

I was lying on my stomach, and Rae was sitting up. "Wasn't that crazy?" I asked.

"What?" she said.

"When the hulk pounced the chopper," I told her.

"Oh, yeah. But now we're screwed." she remembered.

"To the _extreme_." I agreed.

Zoey came over. "We can stay here for a while, depending on how your back heals. Since we're at a place like this...we can clean up, and maybe find food." she explained.

I groaned, "Shower? That's my rescue right there," Rae chuckled a laugh. "Let's get on with it then." I said, getting up. And we made our way back towards the inside hospital.

* * *

**...no rescue? Are they really _extremely_ screwed? Or...will the radio be the answer?  
**


	10. Down With The Sickness

_Inside Mercy Hospital_

I bet all of you who are reading this are probably wanting to laugh at me for saying this—but showers are the best thing _ever_. So is shampoos and soaps.

Yeah, get the laughs out of your system.

You try doing this! Waking up and everyone's gone...zombie apocalypse..._Resident Evil_ stuff...

Not easy!

After rummaging through several nurses rooms, I found my absolute favorite shampoo brand—Herbal Essences, white nectarine/pink coral flower flavored.

No idea what I'm talking about? Head on out to your Wal*Mart (make sure there's no zombies...), go to the shampoo section, and find Herbal Essences, the orange bottle!

Buy some, and think of me? Hehe...

* * *

After over an hour of my cleaning experience, I emerged, forgetting the idea we were totally screwed.

The pink hulk blew up the chopper.

The witch nearly ripped off my cheek, which I knew was gonna scar.

And...my back still felt broken.

Running a brush through my wet hair, I noticed it wasn't GREEN anymore. When it dried, it would return to it's almost dark brown color.

Oh, _relief_.

Zoey was on laundry duty during this—she would shower last. So for now, I had to completely redress in hospital wear (yes, even undergarments too...) and though the white clothing was light, I felt awkward.

In a nurses office where we all gathered, Louis was fumbling with the radio, trying to make contact with anyone.

"I'll try for the cafeteria later. All I got was vending machine stuff." Francis came in, with a shitload of stuff.

"How'd you get all that stuff without money?" Rae asked, brushing her taken over blond hair.

"I'm a magician," Francis laughed, setting the snacks and beverages on a large table.

Poking over, I grabbed a Dasani and a few random bags of chips. Going back and sitting down, I saw Zoey enter. "All of our clothes are being washed." she announced.

"Awesome," I sighed, then groaned.

"You okay?" Rae asked.

I nodded, "My back. When the _thing_ threw me against the _wall_," I explained. Rae's face fell. "I'm fine. At least I have TWO working arms." I joked. Smirking, Rae punched me lightly, making me only laugh more.

"What do we do now?" Zoey asked then.

We all looked at Bill—who I realized looked hilarious in hospital wear.

"Wait for our clothes. Hopefully by then the radio will work, someone'll answer. We'll go from there." he explained.

"Oh..." Rae and I said in unison. I opened my water and drank about half of it, popping open a bag on Funyuns. My brown eyes quickly whipped across the room, "Does that computer have internet?" I asked.

Louis shrugged, "Haven't tried it yet." he admitted.

I lounged for my military book bag, and pulled out my phone—it was dead. Ripping out the charger I plugged it in.

"Is that even important?" Bill asked.

I shrugged, "You never know," I said, watching Rae do what I was doing—dead phone and charger.

Staring at her actions, I remembered taking the picture of us back at the pawn shop, where our hair was green and there was Boomer slob on our faces._ Then I put it on Facebook!_

Oh, slap me now.

That night, our clothes were done. Rae and I were smart, and decided to use our hospital wear to our advantage. After shoving our real clothes in our bags, we slipped on our clean socks.

Francis returned from raiding the cafeteria—a boxful of aluminum foil TV dinners.

Rae and I grabbed three each, and some forks and spoons, we were about to _feast_. I mean, who wouldn't? It was REAL food!

Around midnight, Rae and I were already asleep, a couple long hours by then. The TV dinners box was empty—the six of us didn't waste time eating.

But we couldn't stay...

Someone was shaking me, I woke up to see Louis smiling at me. "Hey," he said sweetly. "Got enough rest?" he asked.

"No..." I moaned, rubbing my eyes.

"We have to go for the helicopter," Zoey announced. "We need to find another way out of the city."

I wanted to cry.

* * *

Phone, food, drinks, etc, all packed up, Rae and I followed the others out of the hospital.

Thanks to my almost-broke back, and Rae's almost-broke arm, we were lagging a little.

We sped through back alleys, until we reached the main road, where I saw—

Our flipped Tahoe.

"Is that-?" Rae asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed, pacing towards it. The others followed. Reaching the back of the car, I reached into my book bag and shoved my DS into my suitcase, which was still in one piece.

"Aw man..." Rae said, defeated. She took out her DS and slipped it in too.

"We'll come back for them. I certainly ain't gonna leave my laptop here forever." I assured. Getting back up, we continued on.

I had to walk, there was no way I was running. You can thank the pink hulk for that.

Slowly going down another alleyway, Bill stopped us, "Hold up," he knelt down, and stuck his fingers in some zombie slob. "Ain't seen anything like this before." he noted.

"Jesus. Don't let that stop ya from smearing that stuff all _over_ yourself." Francis commented.

Bill gave a look, then stood up. "They're _changing_," he realized, rubbing the slob on Francis' vest.

"AH! Damnit Bill! Oh, that _stinks_! And Zoey just washed this, too!" he yelled.

Rae, Louis, and I, were laughing.

Then the crying.

We all moved our eyes to a closed door. "Someone's still alive." Zoey gasped.

I smirked—I doubted that was true. I placed my hand on my ripped cheek, wincing from the pain.

On low feet, Zoey and Bill entered the room slowly.

I stood near Louis, Rae to Francis, we kept guard. Hearing noises—we looked back down the alleyway.

Infected were coming. "Oh, _SHIT!_" Louis yelled, blasting. "SHIT, _SHIT!_" he ran in the room shining his flashlight, "THEY'RE COMING—"

A loud shriek made me flinch over to see a witch. "WHAT THE—?" Louis shouted.

_"RUN LIKE HELL!"_ Zoey cried.

Running out, Bill shut the door, and Louis pinned against it. When the witch's hand shot through he yelled out and started blasting the arm.

And like usual, the bullet wars began.


	11. Crash Course

**Spoilers for the DLC "Crash Course"  
**

Louis was yelling at the near dead witch's arm, trying to sound bad ass.

"Stick together!" Francis yelled, blasting his shotgun. It was then a smoker wrapped its nasty long tongue around Bill and pulled him away. "Hang on!" Francis yelled, shooting the smoker.

When I heard a _**thunk** _I knew Bill was saved. "Guys?" Zoey said quickly.

Some more shooting, and I heard Francis say, "Merry Christmas."

Zoey pulled out a friggin' pipe bomb, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" and she threw it in the air.

All the undead chased after it, which was a good thing. We all knelt down to avoid the explosion.

Now. The undead were...dead. A strange whirring sound filled my ears—

A helicopter.

"HEY!" Louis yelled, sprinting down an alley. "WE'RE DOWN HERE! WE'RE NOT INFECTED! DOWN _HERE_!" he reached a street. "Damnit..." he muttered as it flew away.

An odd cry came to me next, and I heard Louis yelling. I ran out with Zoey to see him getting clawed by something...strange.

It had a hoodie on...?

Zoey went forward, pulled the thing off Louis. Then she went totally _ninja_ and double pistol-ed the Thing 'till it was dead. He died on the car, which set its alarm off.

"Oh this is gonna get _bad_..." Bill said.

In the middle of the street the six of us stood as zombies emerged from all directions. I figured only some of us would survive this—myself NOT one of them.

All of a sudden, when a _flying _car went over my head, I looked forward to see a Tank running right at us.

And it looked _mad_. "Run, or shoot?" Louis asked, stepping backwards. "RUN OR SHOOT?"

_"Both!"_ Bill yelled.

We fled down the closest alley on the left, running and shooting. "Up there!" Louis yelled, pointing at a ladder. Rae ripped off her cast to pick up speed. The two of us climbed up first. As Bill and Francis were trying to end the Tank, Rae and I made it to the roof. Louis was next.

When the tank threw himself through a brick wall, the other guys made their way up. Too slow—the tank reappeared and threw a piece of concrete at the ladder. Bill nearly fell but we got him up.

Zoey lost a gun and jumped up as the ladder gave way. "FRANCIS!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

* * *

Breathing heavily, we were all sat. "We made it. I can't believe we _made_ it!" Louis cheered.

"Son, we just crossed the _street_," Bill told him. He lit up a cigarette. "Let's not throw a _party_, until we're out of the city." he got up and went towards the opposite edge.

"Why was that helicopter there?" Rae asked me.

"...maybe it wondered where the first one was?" I guessed, remembering when the Tank jumped off the hospital roof and pounced the helicopter.

Which we were now heading for.

After our heavy-breathing stopped, it was time to go. "Your arm okay?" I asked.

Rae nodded. "How's your back?" she asked.

"If ya really wanna know, it feels _shattered_." I admitted. Rae frowned, unsure of what do to.

Bill kicked open the door that lead down to an apartment complex—similar to the one we were in when our adventure started.

Leading the way, there was no undead, which was a relief. We made it all the way through, breaching out to the main road.

It was a little too quiet...

But I wasn't gonna complain.

* * *

Just about forty minutes later, we arrived at the helicopter. I heard a spark. Looking over Louis flipped out the radio, where static and voices could be heard.

_"...one list...in...mili..evac...Riverside..."_

"Riverside?" Zoey repeated.

"I swore he said military evac," I said.

"How far is Riverside?" Francis asked.

"Far," Rae admitted. "But, I know there's a truck depot we can go to..." she explained.

"Trucks?" Francis sounded pleased.

"How do you know that?" I demanded.

"I've been to Pennsylvania a couple times." she admitted.

"Lead the way then, kid." Bill said, lighting up a new cigarette.

Rae got up, and went past the helicopter, and we followed like baby ducks. She stopped at the end—an alleyway. She looked both ways, then turned left. She entered a warehouse, where ammo was found.

There was none for my Desert Eagle. _Damn it!_ Putting it away in my bag, I pulled out a 9mm and loaded it up.

Time to go, Rae led towards an open window on the side and we all jumped out. Francis went Rambo by running over to the fence and blowing up a propane tank, laughing the entire time.

To add on to that, he pulled out some pipe bombs, lit 'em up, and threw them far across where several stupid undead chased after them and they all blew up—clearing our path.

Continuing down the alley, Rae cut into another warehouse where a forklift and thousands of boxes lay. "There's probably some free crap in here!" Francis announced, gunning down some undead.

Exiting, we still were heading down the same alleyway. How did Rae even know where we were going?

I couldn't tell ya...

* * *

When I saw a part of a train leading down onto a street, it shocked me a little. "Wow, Thomas. Look what you did, now! Sir Topham Hatt will kick your ass..." I said aloud.

"What are you _talking_ about?" Rae asked.

"You've never seen Thomas the Tank Engine?" I explained.

"Oh..." she looked dumbfound.

Climbing down the street, we ran quickly towards a bridge, turning right. "What is that?" I asked.

"Howitzer!" Louis yelled, getting ready to shoot it.

"A what?" I said.

"MINI GUN, WOOO!" Francis cheered, getting up on a truck—where a mini gun lay.

Louis blasted the Howitzer, causing a fire on the bridge ahead. "Oh no, a horde's gonna come, right?" I realized, jumping onto the track with Francis.

"Yup," he confirmed.

_Great..._

* * *

Have I said yet how annoying it was how the zombies came at you all of sudden from all directions?

Randomly?

If I've already said it, I'm saying it again...

_ANNOYING!_

Rae would scream whenever an undead would get on the truck—but a pop to their head shut her up.

Francis was having the time of his _life_ with the mini gun.

Louis stayed by the Howitzer with Bill.

Zoey went dare-devil by straying away from the truck, killing off leftover undead.

And guess what?

I ran out of ammo...

Stepping onto the bridge, I saw an ambulance. I hopped in the back, and raided it. I found huge bandages, and _oh, my_—

Painkillers, a good couple bottles. Putting all of these in my bag, I jumped back out and followed everyone across the bridge.

I saw a hill going down to the right of the bridge, where I saw a sign that said Riverside. Trekking down, we entered another warehouse that had a safe room.

"Oh, yay," I said sarcastically.

* * *

We exited the safe house, and went out the back of the boxed-full warehouse. I heard Francis yell, "Smoker!" and then, "Hunter!" followed by gunshots, so I guess I had nothing to worry about.

Following from behind, Rae and I had to get up on a car, then we had to climb over a bus, which wasn't fun— thanks to my shattered back and her shattered arm.

In case ya forgot how we got them shattered; Rae's shoulder was dislocated after a Tank uppercut our Tahoe, therefore making her arm almost useless. And, a Tank slammed me against a wall on the roof of Mercy hospital.

Understand?

Continuing down, killing zombies along the way, we entered another warehouse, through a zombie-made wall, and back out onto the main...alley was it?

There were a lot of large cars, mostly semi's and trucks. Hopefully we were getting closer to the truck depot?

We found a random pile of ammo on the ground, _what the crap?_ and I loaded up my 9mm. "Hurry up!" Rae urged me.

"Shut up," I said, running to catch up, ignoring my back pain.

We came across large rectangular crates, and crept through them, and it kind of freaked me out a bit.

Then we had to cross under a bridge, "Over that truck!" Francis yelled, and over we went.

Jumping down on the other side, Bill yelled that he was gonna turn on the generator.

For what-? Oh, I saw now. To lower the truck down to us so we can get the hell out of here.

Right...I saw some small gas containers, and threw them out. Maybe useful later.

Bill started the generator as I followed everyone to where the truck was at. It was very similar to the one from _Dawn Of The Dead_, it was armor plated and zombie-proofed.

Damn it! The truck was coming down like a _turtle_!

I climbed a crate with Rae, and aimed my gun towards the entrance. Rae flung out another molotov—where did she even _get_ those from-?

She started screaming when zombies started to climb our crate. I kicked some off, and shot some, kicked some more, and then I found a small propane tank. I grabbed it, and smacked the zombie's heads, and it worked.

I felt really slow when I realized that the others had joined us on the crate. A few minutes later, after some silence from no more zombies, everything started to rumble.

"Damn it..." I heard Bill.

It was a Tank, or as I call it, a pink hulk.

Suddenly Rae snatched the propane tank from me, and she heaved it out. I understood what she was doing—in half a second I aimed my 9mm at it, and blasted it, the tank blowing up.

"Yeah sucka'..." I cheered, "Take that, biotch."

"Stop trying to act black," Rae discouraged. I rolled my eyes, and watched as several infected came tromping in after the explosion.

Fun, fun.

* * *

The lights went out.

The generator stopped.

"We need to restart it," Bill announced.

"I'll do it!" I offered, climbing down from the crate.

"Lena, no!" Rae shrieked.

"I'll be back!" I waved, taking off. I exited outside, and went for the generator. With all of my remaining strength, I pulled the lever, making the lights come back on, and I could hear the truck getting lowered again.

I heard a zombie come at me. I didn't have my gun.

Turning to split, the zombie managed to scrape the right side of my waist as I stumbled and fell. "Ow!" I got up and ran back inside, where I saw Zoey quickly kill off the undead.

She helped me up the crate, where she saw I was bleeding on my side. "He got me," I said, lifting up my shirt a little. I heard Rae shuffle through her flap pack, pulling out a large bandage. She came over and placed it over, "Owww!" I said, as she firmly latched it on.

"Don't sit down," I heard Zoey.

I groaned and leaned against the wall. First my back, then my cheek (thanks to the witch) and now my waist.

How much more damage could I take?

I'll tell you how much more. Another tank came, and threw a piece of _concrete_ at us. A part of it smacked my head, making me fall down instantly.

"Lena!" Rae screamed my name. Still laying on my side, I could vaguely hear her, and the gunshots aimed for the tank.

I saw Louis crouch down to me, "Arlena, look at me. Stay awake, don't you fall asleep." he said sternly.

Not moving, I stared at him, and felt myself wanting to sleep.

"No, no, no! You look at me! Sleeping's not an option!" he yelled. My brown eyes had fully closed by then. "Shit! Shit!" Louis said.

"Get her! The truck's ready!" Bill exclaimed, jumping down.

I let the darkness welcome me.

* * *

_"Lena, Lena!"_

_With open arms, I welcomed the beautiful five year old into a hug. "I miss you," she said, hugging me back._

_"I miss you too peanut," I said, tears sprung._

_"But you can't stay here," she said, her blue eyes looking at me. _

_I ran a hand through her long brown-blonde hair, "Why not?" she asked._

_"You have to take care of my big sister," she stated._

_I blinked, "...Rae?" I realized._

_She nodded, "She needs you! Wake up, Lena!"_

_I was in shock as she turned to run away, "Makaylah! Wait!" _

_But she was gone..._

My eyes opened quickly, and I sat up violently. "She's awake!" Louis yelled out.

I glanced, seeing I was in the back of the truck, only it had stopped. "What happened?" I asked.

"Tire," Louis said quietly. I stood up, just as Rae jumped in from outside

"Lena!" she hugged me tight, making me remember I had just dreamed about her little sister.

_I had to take care of Rae...no matter what..._

"It was a close one," Louis said, "You stopped breathing for a minute."

I touched my head, and felt a gauze pad wrapped around. "What's this?"

"You're head was bleeding pretty bad, like your waist." Bill said, appearing.

"Great," I said, stepping outside. I looked and saw that the back left tire had been shot to sunshine. Back pain, cheek ripped, waist injury, and head damage. And no more automobile.

Wonderful...


	12. Don't You Want A Balloon?

"Watch out! Deer around here." Francis, peering over the bridge we were on. Our armored _Dawn Of The Dead_ truck was dead, no more tire.

"Ah, hell, guess we're walking," Bill noted, "Then we'll be hopefully closer to Riverside, to the mil evac." he explained.

I saw that Rae no longer had her gauze cast on, remembering that she took it off during our 'crossing the street' adventure.

"Are you okay to walk?" Zoey asked.

I looked at her, our brown and blue eyes locking. "My _head_ hurts," I said, rubbing the gauze, re-feeling the pain from the thrown concrete. "My _back_ hurts," remembering when the Tank slammed me against a wall. "My _waist_ hurts," when a zombie sliced me. "My _cheek_ hurts," thanks to a witch. "So not really. But I'm not gonna stop." I explained.

Zoey had no response.

"What time is it?" Rae asked, noticing the dark sky getting slightly lighter.

"About five," Louis told her.

I yawned, it was day three of our zombie adventure. Maybe I should write a story, or keep a diary.

Or something.

* * *

Seeing that the bridge had split in half, we had to go down to the dried up river, cross it, and climb a ladder of an abutment, where I saw an entrance to a tunnel, a large sign said 'Riverside' at the top.

Getting closer maybe? Hopefully? No doubtlessly?

Entering the dark tunnel, I heard the sounds of what appeared to be vomiting. A Boomer. After making it blow up, a Smoker wrapped it's nasty tongue around Louis and dragged him away until Francis blew it to pieces.

Noticing that my cousin wasn't in front of me, I looked for the thirteen year old. "Rae?" she was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Rae?" I asked. The others looked around as well. "Raeann?" I said, panicking.

"Over here!" I finally heard her, making me breathe again. We all lobbed over some cars to see her looking down a staircase to the left. The tunnel exit was blocked, so I guess down the stairs was next.

There were a lot of stairs, and even _more_ stairs. And then, stairs that went up, finally. Leading outside, Rae flung out a gas can, shooting it so she could have herself some zombie barbecue. Nice. Too bad they weren't cheeseburgers or hot dogs. I could eat.

Up ahead I spotted an odd building, showing an obvious safe room. Of course, hundreds of zombies were guarding it. Nothing less expected.

This was like a video game of sorts. Safe rooms placed in random areas.

After clearing most of the undead, we emerged into the safe room. The men bolted the door shut, while I sat down with a sigh. "These must be overflow pipes for Riverside." I heard Louis, looking out of the exit door.

"Pipes...?" I repeated.

"Riverside drains," Rae remembered. "Sewer system."

"Oh, god," I moaned. "Big rats and shit ass water..." I quoted again. "Along with zombies. Fuck my _life_."

Zoey found a first aid kit and popped it open. "Don't move," she said to me. She opened a container of hydrocortisone for my cheek, so I wouldn't wanna scratch the hell out of it. Next was ibuprofen, _amazing_; for my back and head pains, but I doubt it would help. Then she changed my waist and head bandages, so I had fresh ones.

"Thanks," I said when she finished. "You said you were in college before all of this, right?" I remembered.

"Yep," she confirmed.

"Med-school right? You're a pro." I guessed.

She laughed, "Nope, not med school." she said. She got up from kneeling, and I wiped my hands on my hospital wear. Remembering my real clothes were in my back pack, I got up and stretched.

Rae was drinking a water, glad she wasn't eating. We'd just eaten a lot of TV dinners a couple hours ago back at Mercy Hospital so, didn't have to do any hitting on her.

I didn't see a damn bathroom in here, making me mad.

* * *

Now out in the pump chamber, it was back to the bad smells and gagging once again. Awesome.

Taking the drain opening on the right, we stepped in shit ass water, puddles and puddles of it. Reaching the next chamber, I heard crying.

"Oh, hell no," I said. "Crying my _ass_."

Then I spotted her, down on ground floor, next to a table of random ammo. In a sewer, really? The people who were here before us really deserve some credit.

"There," Zoey whispered.

"Rae?" I said.

"Yeah?" she came up next to me.

"Still got that AK?" I asked.

I felt her smile. She pulled it out and we switched guns.

I aimed the AK-47 down, right towards miss sob fest. "_Barbie is a bitch_," I sang-songed. "_She is just a witch_..." I started blasting.

The witch looked way up at us, pissed beyond belief. But that didn't stop me. Still shooting like a machine, the witch tried to find a way up to us. Seeing a ladder, she lounged for it, but...she died right when she hit the ladder.

"Negatory, bitch." I heard Francis say, climbing down the ladder. I went last, and it took me ages to get down, thanks to all of my injuries. We rifled through the ammo, loading up.

Spotting another large drain pipe opening, we all jumped off the platform edge and paced through it. The exit was blocked, so we had to cut through the pipe to the right.

"We need to get that bridge up so we can cross it." Zoey noted.

"Panel over there," Louis pointed.

"I got it," Bill scrambled after.

"Let me guess—" I said again.

"Yep," Francis confirmed.

Lots of zombie hordes heading our way. Meaning lots and lots of fun.


	13. You're Waiting For A Train

Waiting for the bridge to lower, there was a yellow colored siren that flashed a light and made a very loud..._siren _noise, during so. Of course it did.

I am glad we got ammo back where we took down the witch. You know what, I can't even smell the sewer anymore. Did I get accustomed to it? Gross...

A flock of zombies seemed to rise up from the nasty water, out of nowhere. Uh-huh.

The bridge lowered finally, and the six of us sped across it. We turned left onto a platform with stairs, and another sewer tunnel.

It was like a maze really, Bill leading the way. In a larger space, I felt rumbling. "Oh, hell," Bill said.

"Oh, hell what-? OH, HELL!" I shrieked when a Tank appeared.

We all ducked back into the tunnel maze, I ignored all my throbbing pains as Rae shifted her AK and ran backwards as she shot with it.

The Tank managed to smack Louis against the tunnel wall just as it fell down dead. Ouch, trust me, I know how Louis will be feeling.

We returned to the larger area, where Bill found a broken set of stairs that could be used as a ladder.

Now this would be a challenge for me. My whole body felt agony, not wanting to remind myself of all that happened to me.

So slowly, we all eventually climbed up, and hopped out through a window to the outside. Finally. The fresh air did smell good...

It was still early morning now as we walked down the narrow path, some random undead making the mistake of coming at us.

We reached a parking lot now, all confined by a fence. I heard a scream, turning around I saw a...Smoker, wrap its tongue around Bill, so I shot it with my pistol. Maybe I was running low on ammo now.

We crossed the lot, where it looked like we were about to hop through some workshop windows, and then Zoey suddenly chirped, "Get into the caboose!"

Caboose? Wasn't that the end part of a train? I saw light past the windows and indeed, a caboose. A safe house! I breathed a sigh of relief.

We climbed in the windows and I was the first to run up into the caboose. When everyone was on, Francis bolted the door shut.

With a sigh, I set my military book bag down, along with my gun, and I collapsed down on my back.

Rae was taking a drink of water as Zoey asked me, "How are your bandages?"

"Fine," I groaned.

Francis took my gun and stocked some ammo in it. "Thanks," I told him.

"Here Lena, I found this in my bag," Rae handed me a box of ammo.

I opened it to reveal bullets for my Desert Eagle! "Score! Thanks!" I cheered, sitting up and pulling out my Eagle. Carl Johnson would be proud.

After we rested for a bit, we went to the other end of the caboose and exited outside. I kept my Eagle away, waiting to use it after I ran out of pistol bullets.

Now it looked like we were in a train yard, with zombies.

I spotted a large tower to the left, with lights on, maybe there was something good or someone up there. "I'm gonna go check that out," I announced.

Rae shot an oncoming undead that came at me. "I'll go with you," she decided.

"Go quickly," Bill ordered.

As Rae and I advanced up the metal stairs there was another rumble. "Oh come on," I groaned, "Get inside and it won't see us, they'll kill it." I rushed.

Inside the tower room Rae said, "That's so mean, leaving them to kill the pink hulk,"

"Who cares," I shrugged. I browsed the room only to find a pipe bomb or whatever those were. I stuffed it in my bag, and we exited back down the stairs as the Tank fell dead.

"Anything?" Louis asked.

"Nah," I told him.

We crossed the yard til we saw a brick building. "Hey, Bill, you said that the one explosive attracts the zombies because it makes noise, right?" I asked.

"The pipe bombs, yeah," he confirmed.

"No one move," I stared at the building. There could be good stuff in there. But probably loaded with undead.

I pulled out the pipe bomb from the tower, set it, and then threw it a little ways away from the building. A smile spread as a lot of undead submerged from the building, chasing the bomb.

I winced when it finally blew, saving us a bullet or two. Hey, that was a nice rhyme.

Rae and I walked along the building porch, towards some train tops and jumped onto them as the others checked out the inside. When they returned I asked, "Anything?"

"Nah," Louis answered, knowing I lied about the pipe bomb, so I smirked at him.

We reached a street, just as one of those jumping zombies attacked Louis, and Zoey did another double pistol ninja kill.

"You gotta show me how to do that," I told her, and she chuckled.

Continuing down the street, we walked past a big blue school bus. Then I saw lights on in a house from afar.

Then crying.

"They can never give us a break..." I whined.

"This isn't a video game, kid," Bill reminded.

"It's more like our own little story," Louis added cheerfully.

I heard a nasty grumble, and Bill shot one of the fat zombies, a Boomer. "Check that house for supplies," he ordered.

Rae and I decked inside, and there was no undead. Strange...

There was a shotgun on the ground, and I pointed it out for one of the others to grab. Probably Francis no doubt. Francis reminded me of Tallahassee from _Zombieland_ a _lot_. That movie was hilarious.

I heard Rae open the fridge. "Lena."

"What?"

"There's stuff."

"Really."

"Yeah."

I peered over as she pulled out a jug of _Simply Orange_ juice. That was the _best_ stuff. I snatched that from her as she grabbed an unopened gallon of milk.

I shoved the juice in my bag, oh _hush_, maybe I'd share later.

Rae searched the cupboards for a cup. "Seriously?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she poured herself a glass. "Want one?"

"...I guess," I told her as the others came in.

"Milk?" Zoey noticed.

"Cups?" Francis questioned. "Seriously?"

Rae rolled her brown eyes as she made my glass. Taking a drink, Francis was checking out the shotgun I found on the ground. "Sweet," he said.

We searched the house, finding little tidbits of things we needed, and some of us took the moment to use the bathroom. If the lights were on, hopefully the water was too.

* * *

Back on the road, there was an ambulance, and I took some gauze pads because Lord knows when _I_ was gonna get injured again somewhere.

We saw a picture of a house with a cross on a stone wall...leading into a cemetery.

I _hate_ cemeteries.

"Look!" Rae pointed. We all did, seeing a building with lights on across the graveyard.

"There's lights on in that church," Zoey pointed out. A church? Oh great.

Not wanting to be here any longer, I took off running across the graveyard towards the church, forgetting about the whole, "Stick together," deal.

Then I heard someone yelling.

What?

Inside the church, a part of the wall was gone, so I stepped in and saw that the safe house door was closed.

Someone was yelling.

Someone _human_.

Inside the room?

I pounded on the door, and I heard a man shriek. "Hey!" I yelled. "Open the door!"

The man quieted, shocked that there was another human talking to him. "Open the door!" I yelled again.

"Who are you talking to?" Bill demanded as the others joined me.

"There's someone in the room," I announced.

Francis stepped up and kicked the door. "Open up!"

_"No!"_ the man inside yelled. _"Nobody hides for free!"_

"Let us in, jackass!" I scowled.

_"No! I'm gonna ring the bell, and they'll finish the job,"_ the man announced.

"What fucking _bell_?" Francis asked, and we all flinched when the loud church bells started to ring.

_"Ding-dong, ding-dong!"_ the man yelled hysterically.

"Oh shit," Louis said. "Now they're all gonna come here..." we all heard distant sounds of undead coming closer to the church.

"Sonuva bitch," Bill muttered.

I grabbed the metal door of the room and yanked it with no results. "I'm gonna kill you!" I yelled violently to the guy inside.

_"Ding-dong, ding-dong!"_ he kept yelling.

Louis came up next to me and yelled, "Mister, if one of us gets _killed_ out here, I'm gonna shoot my way in there and beat you to death with my _gun_!"


	14. I Can't Escape Your Energy

The horde of undead that came at us, since the guy in the safe room rang the church bells, could have _killed_ us.

But I was pissed enough to do all that I could to _live_, so when that door opened, I'd blow his _head_ off.

When the red door did open, I was eyes wide when a Hunter came at us. Huh? What happened to the guy-?

Blew the head off anyways.

We entered the safe room and bolted the door shut. There were facilities, _relief_, so we all took turns for that. I climbed up the ladder next to the bolted door, leading to where some ammo was, a sleeping bag, and just like a cheap little hide out.

There never was any Desert Eagle ammo...I'd have to find a gun store or something. There was casual 9mm, and some rifle stuff. Huh...did any of us even have a rifle? I don't pay attention.

There was a first aid kit, probably belonging to Ding-Dong Dumb ass. "Riverside's a bust," I heard Francis as he climbed up the ladder. "We should just hitch out by a boat." he suggested.

"Works for me," Louis said.

"Arlena, let's check your bandages," Zoey urged. "All the running might have loosened them." she went for the med kid.

"Okay," I set my stuff down as Zoey pulled out some gauze pads, and bandages. "The band-aid on your cheek looks good," she noted. "How's your waist?" I lifted up my shirt a little and noticed it was vaguely soaked in blood, and slightly loose. Changing time.

After Zoey did that and re-strapped the bandage on my head, Rae called me a mummy. I was too tired to say anything back.

What time was it? I remember when we entered the tunnel to Riverside, Bill said it was like five in the morning. Surely it was about seven or eight now. And I was hungry too. Ah...

Leaving the safe room, we had to jump through a window and unto construction, down a ladder onto more construction, which led to the front yard of the church.

There was a zombie-made wall hole that went out into the street. I heard thudding from behind, so I turned around to see a horde coming at us. From surprise, I fell down on my rear as the others started to use their guns. Rae helped me back up and said, "You have to stop with the falling."

I almost socked her but decided to put my gun to some use. Jerk...

Two buses and some kind of...sack...things...were blocking the road, when I didn't even notice the Hunter jump down, Louis yelling, "Hunter on Bill!" I think I was what you say, "out of it."

So we cut through what looked like a fast food place, only plastered in blood all in the inside, of course. In a white room, was the corpse of a lady, positioned upwards on the wall, a blood slide in front of her...and a shotgun.

"_When I say shotgun, you say wedding,_" I sang-songed, putting my pistol away, grabbing the bigger gun. Fully loaded too, score. Guess this lady never got to use it...

Making it out to the other side of the street and the blocking buses, there were a hell of a lot more undead roaming here. Target practice.

Now I'm reminded, what the hell happened to the shotgun I used back at the convenient store from the cop car? Wait! I know! Francis has it I think. Question solved.

We turned right onto a neighborhood like street, all the houses boarded up. I don't understand this. How could this have happened overnight? The day before this started, Rae and I were having a normal summer sleepover at our Nana's, and the next morning, everything's dead.

What the hell? Something doesn't add up...

* * *

"Come on, up here,"

"We're coming! Keep your _beard_ on, Bill. I'm carrying a dead weight teenager."

Huh...?

What happened...?

Francis was carrying me over his shoulder, as he climbed a van, and onto a platform. Now we entered what looked like a small office. Now we proceeded into a larger, darker room.

Louis said, "These computers work! See if we can—" he stopped when the faint but shrill crying filled our ears. "Damn it..." he muttered.

"Put me down," I told Francis softly. "I can walk."

"No you can't," he retorted. "You're hopeless, kid. You keep passing out or getting injured. Try not to move." he slowly climbed down a ladder out of a window.

"I've been here before," Zoey said cautiously. "I've always liked this main street."

"Minus the zombies, and that crazy guy from the church...nice town." was that _sarcasm_ Louis spat? Congratu-freaking-lations to him.

"An assault rifle?" Bill said, slightly shocked when he found the table of weapons and ammo. "This shit's gettin' more like 'Nam every second..." he cocked the rifle.

"Now you gotta walk," Francis set me down. "We have to lower that forklift over there to make the ramp. Only way out."

"Let me guess..." I said.

"Yep," Francis confirmed. It was like we'd formed an inside joke...

Here _comes_ a horde, these zombies _must_ be bored...

* * *

Rae gave me some of those pain pills, but I think from my exhaustion and head injuries, they felt like _drugs_, and I swear, I was officially _high_. They all say it's bad, but _hell_ no, it's the best freaking feeling ever...

We made it to another safe room after we cut through a maze of alleys, and climbing rooftops, or more like Cloud Nine...

I was placed on a sleeping bag of sorts, my brown eyes reading the large spray paint text on the wall...

**WE HAVE SOWN THE SEEDS OF SIN, THIS IS OUR PUNISHMENT**

"No, we can't stop!" Bill hissed. "We can all get some real rest when we get a boat."

"She can't even _move_, Bill," I think Louis was talking about me.

Rae knelt down to me then. "Sit up," she ordered. I did, and I saw she found my Simply Orange. "Drink it." I used all my strength to open the lid off, and took a nice, long drink.

It all ended too soon. Seconds passed, and we were out of the safe house. At least I was walking again. Vitamin C does wonders to one's body.

"I hate vans," Francis said, as we all entered what I thought a garage, a bloodied van blocking the garage door. We exited through the normal door. Now onto another street, even though it was morning still, there was a stage light shooting out from a house with an open door. Bad idea?

The world is built out of bad ideas, my friend.

* * *

"I hate small towns,"

Francis really did hate everything, didn't he? He's like my mom's boyfriend, hates the entire freaking world...I hope the zombies ripped his hating ass throat out. Sorry, violent, I know.

We were in Riverside Park now. Not bad a place, minus the blood, zombies, Francis hating everything, oh and, a Witch crying endlessly.

"There's a sight for sore eyes," Francis said upon seeing the river. "We just might make it out of here, kids!"

The craziest thing happened to us next. Or myself and Louis actually. Three zombies came from out of nowhere, grabbing one of our hands and throwing us forward, and then a Hunter pounced the both of us.

Or maybe I hallucinated it. I didn't feel any pain. I think I'm going bonkers or something. I'm definitely scarred though, that I know for sure.

Where did the Hunter go? I heard gunshots kill it and the other undead, and they're gone. Um...okay. We made it to the dock, and Bill looked up and down for boats. "I see a moving one!" he announced. "They're leaving, Goddamnit! HEY! OVER HERE!"

The others started to yell, and I knew we'd be attracting attention quickly. I glanced at Rae, as she brushed back one of her blonde strands, looking too tired to even speak.

I saw the boat that was slowly going away. Whoever was driving couldn't hear us. Unless...

I came up with the greatest idea ever.

If it worked, we'd all be saved. If it didn't, then Rae would slam my head into the ground. Yeah, that bad, But it was an option. I took in a deep breath, Rae looking at me with confusion. After another breath like I learned in choir, I opened my mouth to scream as loud as a blow horn:

"AAAAAFFFLLLLAAAACCCKKK!"

The stage light on the boat then beamed towards us. "HEEEEEEEEEY!" I roared. "ASK ABOUT IT AT _WORK_!"

Yeah, it worked. But as the boat neared us, Rae smacked the side of my head with her AK. Ouch.


	15. So There Goes My Sanity

**2/14/12 - Happy Valentines Day my lovely readers!**

I collapsed after I did my Aflack call; I assume Francis had to carry me again. I was _long_ this time. Lala land.

I've never slept on a boat before but there's always a first for everything.

I had another dream about Rae's little sister, Makaylah; my favorite cousin. Again, she tells me I have to protect Rae. Is this some kind of supernatural entity?

Maybe a message from God? Protect Rae at all costs? Hmmm...

Makaylah takes my hand and we find ourselves walking on water. I feel like Naruto.

"Where are we going?" I ask. Makaylah giggles. "What?" I said.

"Love you Lena." she tells me. Before I reply, my weary brown eyes open to see the sunset. Huh...?

"Feel better?" Louis asks.

"What happened?" I ask back

"The Slaters' were infected and now we're out of fuel." Bill groaned.

"Hungry?" Rae opens a cooler and takes out some sandwiches. "These guys packed good."

"Stealing dead people's food..." Louis shook his head.

"Either that or starve," I took a sandwich from Rae and ate half of it in one bite. Peanut butter and apple butter-! MY FAVORITE! "Where are we?" I ask with a mouthful.

"Just outside Newburg, PA." Bill answers. He added more, but he was cut off by a deafening noise.

An airplane.

It flies over us. We stare in silence. I froze in mid-bite.

"Newburg has an airport," Zoey seemed to remember.

"Working plane means working airport; I say we go there." Francis suggests.

"Sure beats walking out of here." Zoey agreed.

I _love_ flying. I instantly agree.

For sleeping all day, I feel _great_. I eat a couple of sandwiches and tell my cousin that I really need a bathroom, and a mirror. I don't touch it, but I know my hair is like a bird's nest.

"Use the bushes when we get off the boat," Rae says, handing me her thick brown brush from her bag.

"What are we, camping?" I grumble as I run the brush through. I watch Bill steer the boat towards the lowest part of the land.

"There's no dock; we'll have to jump off." He announced.

Me? Jumping off a boat? With my damaged body? Not gonna happen! It did anyway. The six of us leaped off the boat as soon as it breached ground. That would have been a nasty bump for us.

I wonder why my book bag feels lighter. It may be because of the food and drink we've eaten, and all the ammunition I've used. I keep my Desert Eagle in my bag for emergencies. I'm sick of guns. I don't like them anymore, but I keep my other pistol strapped to the outside of my bag.

Killing zombies is taking away my childhood.

After taking a bush break, Rae decides not to stay behind with me for the while; she stays up front with Bill. Louis takes her place by sticking with me in the back. "Is that a greenhouse?" I take notice of the building we're approaching.

"Yeah." Bill confirms.

We enter the greenhouse with caution and in silence. I hear them. Undead. There are some supplies on the table, like ammo and bandages. Everyone restocks as quietly as they can.

Francis is the first to go down the small staircase, putting his knob on the door. "You guys ready for this?" he asks.

"Of course," I reply, cocking my pistol.

"You're a terrible liar," Francis remarks as he opens the door and unleashes his wrath upon the several zombies that are beyond that room. We proceed in slowly, there really are a lot of them cramped into this room.

When the room is clear, we trot across, going towards the left to a smaller room, with another pair of downward stairs to the right. I wish it wasn't sunset; I can't see anything in here.

I end up going down the stairs to see that the door had been bolted and boarded shut.

"Dummy, up here," Rae waves as she follows the others through a door that must of went out to a roof of sorts. My face goes red as I go back up the stairs and follow them out.

"Stay still," Bill ordered. He pulls out a Molotov that he found from the supply table and throws it across rooftops. It touches down on the rooftop accessible via boardwalk and sets all the nearby Undead on fire, saving us a load of gunfire.

"Nice." Rae said. She sighed in relief. We cross the planks and find ourselves turning left into a building with three broken windows. An apartment. A nice one at that. I raid the kitchen to find only blood, guts, and glory.

Just kidding, I found a Klondike Bar. No, really, it was on the counter and melted and hot. Gross? Much. I stay in the kitchen with Rae as the others wipe out the living room. When the gunfire faded, we joined them out a window onto another room.

"Let's get up that ladder," Louis suggested with a point of his finger. Rae and I climb it up first, myself groaning and wincing in pain along the way up. We cross the roof, where I find out we have to jump down. _Twice_.

I cry mentally.

A sign reading Holly Street Apartments is directly above a hole in a wall we go through. I knew this was an apartment complex. There are Undead _everywhere_. I empty a magazine and inject a new one during this wipeout. "Through here." Bill pushes us down some stairs that lead to the kitchen. I raid this kitchen as well, only to find nothing.

Amazing what I would do for a Klondike Bar.

We have to jump down yet another two times; onto the semi-truck, and then onto the ground. My body hates me. I stay on the semi roof as the others hit the ground. I feel like Joker from _Mass_ _Effect_ _2_ as I shoot random rounds down at Undead. Thinking of that game angers me - with undead bringing the apocalypse, did BioWare get killed-? If they don't go back to making the next game when this is all over with...

I just may turn into a pink hulk.

* * *

Is that a hotel-? My suspicions are confirmed when we run into the Harbor View Hotel. We enter the kitchen, and the big boys bolt the door up.

After we all gather our breaths, we exit out into a cargo-garage room, with some Undead stragglers. My scratch on my cheek starts to itch. I scratch the bandage and I get caught. "Don't touch it," Zoey scolds. "You might get something worse than a zombie infection."

"Okay, Mom," I mutter sarcastically. Then the next best thing happens - instead of jumping down, we have to climb up some boxes. I groan aloud to the point where Francis takes my back pack from me.

"Ladies first, lazy buns." he ushered his hand up to the boxes. I think Zoey gives him a dead eye as she, Rae and I climb the boxes and then up the fire escape ladder. I wait until the others join us so I can collect my bag from my tattooed knight in shining armor.

I admit it, it's been going on since I turned eleven over three years ago; I have a thing for older men. I don't know why. I can't help it and I can't do anything about it! Have I ever told Rae? Hell, no. She'd never let me live it down...

The six of us rampage the hotel hallway, raiding anything we can find. I found a hidden pop in a broken-into vending machine. I may not like Faygo anymore, but it's caffeine. I make a promise to Rae that I'll share it with her when we have a moment, or when we make it to the airport.

..._if_ we make it. Remember what happened to the helicopter back at Mercy Hospital.

We went up the stairs at the end of the hall, and I saw the most hilarious thing ever. Two undead were attempting to make out...or...something like that...either way, I erupted into a fit of laughter, making the undead couple see us.

Rae hits my chest with her AK. "Quit abusing me with that!" I scowl in pain. No one can yell at me as my insider horde comes pouring out of the room the make-outs were in.

A smoker gets killed, and I'm now coughing to my death. At least I had a good laugh before it. When someone was yanking me forward, I told myself it was either an angel taking me upstairs or a demon taking me downstairs.

No...it was only Rae. We entered the make-out room and stood stealthily by the window; Bill and Francis were scoping out the rooftops. "I'm gonna take all your bandages off and turn your mouth into a mummy." Rae threatened.

"Only if you'll let Brendan Fraser sign it." I grin stupidly.

"Listen up," Bill said to us. "We'll cross the roof, and lower that crane." he pointed out. We all look in his direction to see said crane.

"It'll lower the dumpster and we can cross it." Francis adds.

I look at him. "Let me guess-" I said.

"Yep." he confirmed. Inside jokes for the win. With a nod from Bill, we climbed out the window and crossed as quietly as we could to the crane. I cock my pistol as Rae injects a new mag for her fast-shot weapon.

"Kids, you go up into the crane and stay up there." Bill ordered. "We'll stay down here."

"We have names, you know." I remind him as I go first to climb up the crane. I grasp the lever. "Ready?" I ask loudly.

"Do it." Bill says; I hear him finish the rest of his cigarette. I look at Rae briefly, then pulling down the lever. Francis started a fire while I did this, when I looked back out, our horde was all in flames.

When the fire dies, we cross more planks and roofs until we find an opening to another building. Creepy. How do the adults even know where they're going-? I quit questioning myself and them when we walk into a small office with supplies.

Before we climb out another window and cross even more planks, Zoey notices that we're in a lawyer's building. "What do you call five thousand infected lawyers?" she asks. I don't get it, but only Louis and Bill end up chuckling lightly.

She goes on a roll with these jokes. When we reach a blood-stretch stained stair case, she goes, "Look Bill, it's your favorite: stairs!" and the veteran grumbles something at her but I don't hear. She keeps going when we enter a room full of cubicles. "Feeling homesick, Louis?"

The poor man shudders.

After two floors of claustrophobia, we're on the ground floor; I nearly leap out of that building. "We're getting closer to the airport." Francis announces. We'd better be! I feel like I've ran a marathon through Brooklyn. Rae notices my tiredness as I lag behind the others worse than usual.

"You slept all day. Go faster." she reminds. I glare at her.

"Into that storage place!" Francis suggests. He leads the way inside the building as I pick up the pace. I stop dead when I see a spray paint warning on the wall reading, **LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT**. Good thing I didn't get a warning earlier, or I would have been shot ten times over by now.


	16. Taking Over Me

I think the term _mentally exhausted_ can apply to me now. Even though I've slept all day on that boat, this zombie business is wearing me out. Plus, even with Zoey's minor bandages and medicine, I know I still need serious medical attention.

I probably have or had a concussion and I don't know it. My cheek could possibly be infected from that damn witch. Along with my other injuries, I'm the poster girl for Officially Screwed.

The men are bolting shut the door we came in, as I rummage through a med kit I found, while Rae and Zoey read some of the scribbling on the walls. The **LOOTERS WILL BE SHOT **just outside is my new favorite.

"Zoey?" I called out.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I'm tired of this big and ugly bandage weighing me down on my cheek. Do you think my scratch has healed up enough so I can take it off and slap a band-aid or two on?" I explained.

"Let's check the wound," Zoey said. She puts her pistols down and walks over to me. I stand still as she gently takes my bandage off. "Alright. Looks good. Two band-aids ought to do it." She decided.

"Yay," I chime sarcastically. I let Zoey apply the two band-aids, smile at me, and then return to her weapons. I pick my up my own, and look down at myself. My white hospital clothes are splattered in blood in random places. I should change clothes, but Bill keeps shooting me sneaky glares.

"Hey," Louis says. "Are we ready to go?"

"Just a second." Bill peers out through the exit door. "Alright, we can go." He pushed the door open, and we all follow him out.

I see a white car to the left, so I look at it, going, "Can't we camp in that car? I'm tired…" and I picture myself passing out in the backseat.

"No, we can't stop." Bill reminded. "Come on." I'm the one giving secret glares now.

We turn a couple of corners, and we find ourselves in what must be the remnants of a construction site. It's a big open area. I don't like it.

All thoughts cease when something dark is suddenly in my face. Out of blind instinct, I punch it as hard as I can. When it hits the ground, I see that it was a hunter.

"Did she just knock out a hunter?" Louis realized.

"Hell yeah," Francis wooted. "Nice one, kid."

I ignore their praise. My hand hurts. A lot.

"Focus, guys!" Bill snaps, letting out a few rounds at some undead stragglers.

It takes us a short while to clear out this part of the construction. Until we find the wooden barricade. "Let me guess," I sigh sarcastically.

"Yep," Francis replied casually.

I inject a new magazine in my weapon, and say, "After you, Francis."

* * *

"What the hell? Did Matthew Broderick summon Godzilla?" is what I say when I see a part of the street _ripped_ open, as if the creature itself had came out. Rae snorts at my reference. "He and I have the same birthday." I added proudly.

"Really?" Rae says matter-of-factually, and I nod at her.

As we get closer to the airport, I reminisce about the first time I flew. It was during Christmas break; I was thirteen. It was from Denver to Detroit. I was nervous, but excited. Since I was an unaccompanied minor, the flight attendant sat me in the very front with two boys younger than me. I had free TV, and lots and _lots_ of free Dr Pepper.

Save for turbulence, I had a _blast_. Those two boys I sat with…I hope they're okay, wherever they are. The older one of the two had given me gum so my ears wouldn't hurt. I find myself smiling now.

"There's the sky bridge," Francis cuts my thoughts.

…_holy shit_. There's the cockpit of a plane crashed into the _street_. I look around quickly, checking for any black smoke or polar bears.

Yes, I watched every episode of _Lost_ for all six years until the very end last month. I'm a proud Lostie.

"Ah, shit," Francis mirrors me. "That half of a plane ain't encouraging." Then he notices that the terminal entrances are blocked, save for a half of a van sticking out. He leads us across the plane crashed, fire spreading street to the parking lot.

Wait…is this the plane we saw back at the greenhouse? It has to be…all this fire…shame. When we get to the sky bridge, I froze completely.

"I can't cross," I muttered.

"Why?" Louis asks.

"You don't like cubicles?" I said to him. "I'm _terrified_ of bridges. I…I can't cross." I explained helplessly.

"I am not carrying you again. You're heavy." Francis remarks.

I gulp, backing up against the wall.

"Is she being serious?" Bill asks Rae.

"Yeah, you should see her when we go over some of the bridges in Toledo. She freaks out." Gee, thanks for the moral support.

I've had this phobia for just about a year now. "I'll stay here," I suggested. "You guys can go get help."

"Come on, Lena. It's not even that far to cross." Rae points out.

I shake my head.

Zoey puts her weapons away, and walks up to me. "No one gets left behind," she declared. "How about you hang onto my arm, close your eyes, and I'll lead you across?" she suggested. "Think you can try that?" she does that smile of hers at me for what seemed like forever, until I finally nod. I strap my pistol to my bag, and hold onto her arm tightly.

Before I take the first step on the bridge, I close my eyes and look down. "Kids these days," Bill mumbles. "They can shoot zombies dead in the face, but can't cross a bridge?"

"Welcome to the twenty-first century," Francis teased.

_Happy thoughts, happy thoughts…why am I worried about those two boys from my flight? I should be thinking about my family. My mom and sister in Colorado. My dad, evil soon-to-be step-mother, and sister in a small town near Toledo. Nana. Are they okay? Uncle David lives in Pittsburgh; how far is that from here? Is he okay…_

Someone pats my shoulder. I look up to see that we've crossed. I sigh heavily.

* * *

In the safe room, I keep to myself as I inhale and exhale deeply. "You gonna be okay?" Francis questions. I nod at him.

"Lena, this is funny," Rae draws me over to the writing on the wall, one in particular that says **I miss the internet**.

"Ha," I said. "Nice."

As the six of us pass through the offices, we all agree that a bathroom break is a must. In the ladies room, I turn a sink on, but no water. "Great." I go into the cleanest stall to do business.

But an undead was just standing there as I opened the stall.

"WHOA!" I scream, jumping back. I slam the stall door shut. Why didn't any of us _hear_ him? _It? _

"What is it?" Zoey asks quickly, peering out of her stall. I grab my pistol and shoot multiple times through the stall door. I hear the sounds of undead death, and I breathe again, shaking.

"Whoa," Rae says, coming out of her stall. "Uh…you can use mine." She offered.

Mental exhaustion returns when we clear the offices. I remain on the escalators with Rae as Louis starts the crashed van we saw from outside. I have no time to do my inside joke with Francis as the horde comes.

It all goes to hell from there.

Louis and Francis get knocked down, and a witch comes _screaming_ from out of nowhere. Jumping down from the escalators, I ignored the pain that shot up from my feet, sprinting over and tackling the witch before it would have attacked Bill.

We hit the ground hard, bringing more unbearable pain. The witch screams at me before toppling at me. I grab its wrists to keep from clawing my face off. "You're not my type!" I growl at her, just before head butting her.

It doesn't stun her as much as I would have liked. But it gave me enough time to scramble away and run. "Anytime now!" I yelled. I hear gunshots, so I turn to see that the witch has been angered. She turns away from me, now going for Zoey.

_"Kid!"_

I turn slightly to see Bill tossing a lit Molotov at me. I barely catch it, major surprised it didn't put me up in flames. I hold it up and behind, and throw it as hard as I can.

_**SHATTER**_.

It explodes flames onto the witch. Now she screams, running around endlessly as she burns. I feel something grab my arm, so I flinch and blindly turn and punch wildly at whatever it was.

"…_ow_," Bill groaned. My brown eyes grow wide when I realized I just punched a veteran. You never knew what adrenaline could do to you.

"Thanks for that," Bill starts. "Good work with the Molotov. You'd be a fine soldier." He comments.

"Sure," I retort. "I can shoot a zombie dead in the face, but I can't cross a bridge." I mock coldly, and then went to go join Rae.

"You're crazy," she remarks. "You're gonna get yourself killed."

"You just got owned, old man." Francis laughed.

"Shut up," Bill spat. "We keep moving."

* * *

Going through the assembly lines that checked suitcases go through was the most bit of fun I've had all day, save for yelling Aflac this morning.

It gets more exciting when I see that there is another safe house, this time in the runway.

We're so close now.

Terrifying, but _more_ exciting, is when we exit the runway and we see a plane crash dangerously close to us.

"Jesus!" Bill cried.

"HOLY SHIT," Francis, Zoey and I gaped in unison.

"What the frick!" Rae screeched.

"Damn!" Louis finishes.

I hear a radio.

Bill gets put in charge of answering it, while the rest of us scope the area out. That plane crashing is bound to attract attention. Perfect territory for pink hulks to cause destruction.

"Yes, we have kids with us," Bill said. "Can't you see 'em? They're the blond and brunette five footers over there!"

"Hey!" I hissed. "I'm five-_two_, old man!" I growled. Wait_. Can't you see 'em?_ I follow Bill's gaze over to a camouflage military chopper with two propellers. Someone's in that? WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE?

"Got it." Bill says. He turns the giant wheel in front of him, and I can hear pumping and flowing. _Gas,_ my brain tells me. _It's gas. Fueling up the chopper._

_GET TO THE CHOPPA!_ Arnold voices in my head. I laugh stupidly as I yet again feel mental exhaustion taking over me.

* * *

**No, Lena. You're not getting out of there. You should know that by now! and you think that little sky bridge was bad? Wait til Blood Harvest -evil laugh-**


	17. Flashing Lights

"You just _had_ to fall, didn't you?" Rae scoffed.

"Shut up. It's not my fault the pilot _failed_ to mention that he was bitten and thought he could save us by ejecting us out the door." I reminded, struggling to keep up with my cousin.

I don't want to explain how Rae and I ended up in the woods, but we did, and here we are. Luckily, we still have our bags.

"You think we should change clothes?" Rae then wondered.

"Yeah, you go ahead and change in the woods where zombies could come out any minute." I replied sarcastically.

"I have to go to the bathroom anyway," she pointed out.

"Fine. Find a pair of trees. I'll stay on the lookout for Jason." I offered.

I heard her shuffle away while saying, "I'd rather run from Jason then zombies."

"Ditto," I agreed. I stand still for a minute or two until she joins me again.

We walk for a while in silence until Rae asks, "Are the others okay?"

I answer, "Oh sure. Bill probably convinced them to go on without us. I wouldn't doubt it if we were on our own again."

"You're depressing," Rae commented.

"I get it from my mom," I admitted. "Hey, is that a street?"

* * *

It wasn't a street, but it was a picnic table and some sleeping bags. There were supplies on the table so we took those, and continued through the path. "I hate the woods," I muttered.

"You sound like Francis," Rae remarked.

"I miss my knight in tattooed armor," I admitted, then heard undead growls. "Here we go." I imitated Rubi Malone.

Instead of shooting, we booked it through the path. We passed another picnic table; this one only had a lantern on it. "It's getting dark," Rae noticed. "Should we take that light?"

"No, they'll see us easier if we have light." I told her.

"If you say so," Rae sighed.

"I do say…" I stopped when my chocolate eyes cast upon a complete and utter horror.

A long, wooden bridge.

"No," I said in disbelief.

"Crap," Rae groaned. "Lena, you have to-"

"Nonononononono!" I cried. "I'm not going across that."

"Lena, you need to grow up and cross that bridge." Rae hissed.

I shook my head with wide eyes.

"I'll do what Zoey did and lead you across." Rae offered.

I quivered, and finally nodded.

* * *

I'm not kidding. It took us five minutes to cross. I screamed the whole way, so when we made it to the other side, we took off running since the undead were on our tails.

We stopped when we found a lone trailer home. We went inside and shut the door. I leapt into the bathroom while Rae fell to the floor, exhausted. I came back out a few minutes later and went back outside.

Only to see a horde. Where was Francis when I needed him?

"RUN!" I screeched. We dashed so fast, I nearly tripped, and Rae was dragging me so I could keep up with her.

We came across what I suspected was a factory, and then Rae pointed out a safe house.

A boomer comes curdling out of nowhere.

I tripped backwards and fell, scooting back so Rae could shoot it without it throwing up on us. That was the last thing we needed right now.

An undead lugged its arms on my shoulders from behind; I grabbed its forearms and launched him forward so Rae could put a bullet in its head. Sometimes I forget she's only thirteen and I'm only fourteen.

* * *

In the safe house, Rae bolts shut the door while I read the writing on the walls.

_**WE DESERVE THIS!**_

_**Maybe you did. I didn't do anything.**_

Don't we all say that?

_**Head N to Ecco for evac to safe zone**_

_**HEAD NORTH TO ECHO!**_

_**Follow the tracks.**_

_**Anybody left?**_

We're left.

_**The army is dug up north**_

_**They're still taking immunes**_

_**It's the only evac for miles**_

_**FOLLOW THE TRAIN TRACKS**_

"I guess we follow the tracks north to Echo," I decided.

Now, don't ask how we made it to the tracks. Just know we went through windows, crossed elevated platforms, shot some undead, survived a hunter, jumped to the ground from a boxcar, made a reference to the Boxcar Children, and we were finally outside.

Oh, I forgot to add we took on a horde by ourselves after we opened a door that set off a fire alarm.

"I guess we just follow this train tunnel," I assumed, letting out a few pistol rounds at some undead who were just relaxing on top of a wrecked train cars. The pink hulks had to have done that.

"This reminds me of Naruto," I admitted as we were continuing north.

"How?" Rae asked.

"In the first movie, he carries the princess on his back through the train tunnel. A train comes and he almost goes Kyuubi to outrun it." I explained.

"Almost goes what?"

Sigh. "Sorry, that's the Japanese word. He almost turns into the Nine-Tailed Fox." I clarified.

"Oh."

I think she gave up on anime a long time ago.

* * *

When we're in the next safe room, I lighten the weight in my bag by finishing the Simply Orange with Rae, then pitching the large bottle.

We exit and emerge outside. "Back into the Creepy Forest of Zombies." I sighed, and forced myself forward.

We ventured into another building that took us back to the tracks. We were further into the train yard when we could hear a witch crying. "Ugh," Rae and I groaned together.

"You see that bridge?" Rae pointed up at the bridge with flashing lights. Great, now I have the Kanye West song stuck in my head.

_Flashing! Lights, lights, lights, lights…_

I looked up at the bridge again. "Don't tell me we have to cross it." I hoped not.

"No, look. We can't get to it from where we are, so we have to make the bridge get to us." Rae explained.

"I don't get it," I said.

"We have to knock it down so we can climb up it and keep going." She clarified.

"Oh, so we're terrorists now. Achmed would be proud." I scoffed. "Lead the way, Rae-Ra-Ra." I imitated a certain doll.

"Uh-huh," she said. We entered a small shed like place that had some pistol ammo, so we stocked up. I really want to use my Desert Eagle, but got to save the limited ammo.

A Wal*Mart or gun store would be nice right now.

Back outside, we noticed a lonesome train car with a lever. "We can use that to smash the bridge," Rae said excitedly. She quickly pulled the lever.

"We can do this ourselves," I grinned. "We don't need a college girl, a cubicle phobic, a veteran, or a knight in tattooed armor to help us."

"Still miss them though," Rae admitted.

"Yeah," I frowned. "I miss them too."


	18. You Will Never Break The Chain

**7/4/12 - Happy 4th my readers! **

**Don't kill me for continuing with the many references! XP**

**Warning: some spoilers for _The Sacrifice_ comic towards the end.**

* * *

Climbing the bridge was much better than crossing it. No panic attacks; no freak outs. I was well behaved.

We both gagged when we saw the dead cow outside the safe house. I was coughing in the corner as Rae pushed a stove against the door. We wasted no time as we got out, and came across a barn.

"This is too much like _Resident Evil 4_," I grumbled.

"Is that the one with Leon?" Rae remembered.

"Correct." I said. We searched the barn for supplies, but came up short when a smoker dropped in on us, and we found more dead cows.

We jumped down to the tracks upon discovering them, and I observed the train cars. I climbed up one and across three cars, and jumped down to my great pains.

A fallen train car made us go down some stairs, and into the basement of a house. On the floor was the most gross pool of blood and zombie remains; it was worse than the dead cows.

We got out of the basement, and heard crying again. "I'm too tired for this," I spat.

We went to the top floor, through the window, and saw the witch down on the ground.

"Shit," I mumbled. "How do you wanna do this?"

"There's another bridge," Rae pointed out. "Don't have a fit or I will make that witch chase us across it. It's a train bridge so it's sturdier. You'll live. Come on."

I gulped as we jumped down, both of us complaining from the pain of our injuries. The witch glared and growled at us.

"_Nice_ witch," I soothed. "You can just sit there and cry since you're _so_ miserable…we'll leave you alone now…GO!" I ran first hysterically across the bridge. It seemed to go on forever.

I'm crying from fear now. Again Rae had to pull my arm to get me to keep up with her. When we reached the end, after what felt like a decade, we went into the train car safe house.

I fell to my knees and palms on the floor, crying and breathing quickly. Rae tried to calm me down by saying, "Look Lena, these people thought the airport and the boats in Riverside were still safe." She pointed to the writing on the walls.

"Wrong," I groaned.

* * *

Rae had to keep dragging me along the tracks, up a train car, until she forced me to read a huge yellow sign that read:

_**CAUTION**_

_**You are now entering**_

_**A U.S. Military**_

_**Evacuation Outpost**_

"We're almost there," Rae said in relief. "Maybe the others were evacuated."

"I hope so," I laughed, giving my blonde cousin a much needed hug for both of us. "I hope so."

For some reason, I thought the next sign that said, _**Warning: keep arms above head at all times or you will be shot on sight **_was hilarious. And here my mom kept ushering me into joining the army.

Now we had to jump down into the cornfield. "Keep an eye out for Jeepers Creepers or Isaac," I warned.

"Gotcha," Rae said. "Wait, who's Isaac? Never mind, I don't care."

We took one step into the field when we could hear gunfire from the distance. "You think it's them?" Rae guessed.

"Let's go find out," I urged, as we ran through the field swiftly, avoiding stray undead.

"I see a house," Rae alerted me. I cast my eyes onto a farm house, where I saw lights on.

"Thank-" I sighed, then suddenly yelled, "I'M SICK OF SEEING DEAD COWS!"

"_Holy shit!"_ I heard a familiar yell. I looked up to the farm house to see Francis stick his head out a window on the second floor. "It's the _kids_!" he yelled out.

"It's my knight in tattooed armor!" I cheered, and we sarcastically grinned at each other.

"You guys alright?" Louis asked as he came out onto the porch with Zoey.

"We're fine," I answered.

"Welcome to the Echo Outpost," Zoey greeted. "We called the military. They're on the way."

"Seriously?" Rae gawked.

"We just have to hold out until they come," Louis added.

"We should have four of us down here, and two upstairs for any stragglers." Bill finally said.

"We'll take the upstairs," I offered, going up with Rae. "He _would_ be the only one not to care we're okay." I muttered.

Zoey called Francis down, and, I wouldn't know this until later on, the last part of my zombie-apocalypse freedom began.

* * *

I aimed my pistol out the window, and took out any stragglers, including a smoker. "You guys alright?" I heard Zoey yell up at us.

"Yeah!" Rae yelled down.

I swear we were at it for an hour when Zoey, Louis and Francis joined us upstairs. "Good," I breathed. "There's too many of them outside."

"Watch and learn, children," Francis bragged, pulling out a pipe bomb. Rae and I ducked behind Louis as Francis threw the bomb out the window.

And missed.

Completely.

"Oh, shit," Francis just said. The pipe bomb, now lying four feet away from us, was beeping.

The five of us made a beeline for the stairs when it blew, causing myself to crash and land with Louis, Rae and Zoey nailing halfway down the stairs, grabbing the railing so they wouldn't tumble all the way down.

There were now zombies just inches away from me. I screech, but Rae and Zoey yell, "I hear the rescue truck outside!"

"Where's Bill?" Zoey asked quickly. "I'm going to find him." And she goes downstairs, followed by Rae.

"You think we should follow them?" Louis suggested.

"Nah, Bill's in one of his pissy war moods. Best leave him alone." Francis replied.

We shot off the undead in the room with now a hole in the wall from the pipe bomb, until Zoey, Rae, and Bill return to us.

"Why haven't we gone to the rescue truck?" Bill argued.

No one went to answer when we heard the roar of a tank, as it came inside the house, and, no doubt, towards the stairs.

I looked to the hole in the wall. It's now our only way outside.

* * *

When the tank is at the bottom of the stairs, Bill threw a Molotov down at its face, but a tank on fire just pisses him off. As it now threw itself up the stairs, I saw that Louis had a propane tank in his hand.

I ran over and yanked Bill back, startling him, as Louis went and threw the propane tank down. When it shattered on the tank's flaming face, it exploded, leaving the four adults to shoot it to death.

Rae and I are first to jump out the hole in the wall, painfully landing on the ground on our feet. We sprinted to the rescue truck as it opened up. I pray the driver has not been bitten!

"_Francis isn't in!" _

I looked outside to see Louis grabbing Francis' hand as Francis gets dragged away by a smoker. I was gonna brave myself to go help, but by the time I made it outside, both Francis and Louis ushered me into the truck.

The back of the truck closed, and we all sat down with a sigh. "Five bucks says the guy drivin' this thing's gonna take us right off a cliff." Francis muttered.

"I think we're gonna be okay this time," Louis input. "Really."

"And truly?" I added.

He nodded.

"Hey, are we going to Echo?" Zoey asked the driver up front. We couldn't see him since there was a like a wall blocking the way.

No response.

"Hello?" Zoey knocked on the wall. "Are we going to Echo?" she repeated.

Rae held her injured arm in cast form while I just laid on my side due to my back. Zoey put her ear against the wall. "I hear a radio." She whispered.

"And?" Bill urged.

"Shhh," Zoey shushed, closing her eyes to focus.

The truck floor wasn't exactly comfortable but sleep was sleep. Whatever Echo really was, I imagined a safe haven. Beds, food, running water, electricity…internet…

I heard Zoey come back over to us. "Whoever was talking on the radio said not to go to Echo." She whispered.

So much for that dream. I knew it was too good to be true.

"Did they say _where_ we're going then?" Louis wondered.

Zoey nodded. "I don't know what or where it is," she admitted. "But they called it Millhaven."


	19. Shut Me Up

**Spoilers for "The Sacrifice" comic from here on out**

* * *

_"Rescue 9 what's your status?"_

_"Haven, we have six tango mikes for the Doc. Two of them are minors. This is Captain Mora. Is the Major there?"  
_

_"Negative Rescue 9."  
_

_"Haven, please advise the Major. I need to debrief him **directly**."  
_

_"Copy Rescue 9...you know he's gonna ask, what'd you see?"  
_

_"Haven, you would not believe it. I **saw** it and I can't believe it."  
_

_**CREEEEEEEEEEEAK.**  
_

I'm the first to wake up in the back of the military truck when the door opens up. Louis was slouched forward, and I had been sleeping with the side of my head on Louis' back. Rae had been sleeping on my shoulder. I crane my brown eyes to see three armed men with gas masks on.

_"Put your weapons on the floor of the vehicle now."_

"Wha-?" I slurred.

"Hold on," Francis said. "I know what's gonna happen. You're gonna cavity search us, right?"

_"This is your last warning. Put your weapons down."_

I put my pistol down. The others put theirs down, and the armed soldiers led us out. "What's going on?" Rae asked me. "They're treating us like criminals."

"You should cavity search Bill," Francis suggested. "He's pretty suspicious."

"Francis..." Bill muttered as we kept walking.

"Shit I figured it out," Francis realized. "The three of you's gonna cavity search each other!"

The first armed guard smacked Francis with the butt of his rifle. "Ow!" Francis held his chin...and then fell backwards unconscious.

"Better carry your smart ass friend," the armed soldier scorned. "Anyone tries to make a run for it, they're getting shot. Welcome to Millhaven."

"Maybe we were safer with the zombies," I muttered.

The jackass soldier glares at me.

"Don't even think of laying a hand on the kid." Bill threatened.

The soldier huffed, then faced forward to walk.

"Um...hi..." Zoey started. "I'm not a smart ass."

"Good to hear, ma'am," the soldier replied.

"Why are we here? I thought we were going to the Echo safe zone?" Zoey questioned.

"Negative, ma'am."

"Okay...can you tell us where you're taking us?" Zoey wondered.

"Testing." the soldier informed.

"Testing?" I repeated. "Are you putting us in a pit of zombies that we have to fend off?"

"Shhh," Bill hushed me.

"And if we past the test?" Zoey asked.

"Uh...left." Rae ushered.

Zoey and I looked left, past the fence, to see a crane of sorts moving dead bodies into flaming pits.

"What the f-" Bill covered my mouth to stop me.

"Never mind," Zoey said nervously. "I think I get the idea..."

* * *

They separated us.

Bill and Zoey were taken one way, Francis and Louis another, Rae and I elsewhere. Until they separated Rae and I.

"Lena!" she cried as they took us in separate directions.

"Stay calm!" I ordered her. "Don't answer any of their questions!"

I saw her nod, total fear in her own brown eyes. A soldier led me into what looked like a room you go into when you see a doctor. The soldier shoved me in and shut the door, no doubt locking it.

I sat on the bed for about a minute until a doctor guy comes in. He's got blonde hair, white coat, gloves, and a germ mask covering his mouth. An armed soldier comes in behind him.

"No cup of coffee?" I smirked. "No donuts to pull the guilty test? I'll eat all the donuts like Glen did in _Transformers_. I am not guilty of anything."

"Would you like some coffee?" the doctor offered.

"Yes." I answered politely.

The doctor left, leaving the armed soldier to stare me down until the doctor returned.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked me, giving me a styrofoam cup of coffee.

"I'm tired, I'm achy, I hurt, I'm sore, and I'm hungry." I listed.

"Hurt? Sore?" the doctor repeated.

"Yeah, I got hit in the head with a piece of concrete thanks to a pink hulk. Another one threw me against a concrete wall. A miserable witched scratched me cheek, you can see my bandage. A zombie scratched my waist. I hurt a lot."

The doctor just stood there. Then he held out a little container. "Spit into this, please."

"Okay," I did so. I set my empty cup down.

"Let me look at your cheek," the doctor urged.

"...no." I said.

"...no?" he repeated.

"I don't trust you. Have you noticed the burning bodies outside? I'm not going to let you kill me." I said strictly.

The doctor took one step toward me, and I stepped back. "Show him your injury." the soldier ordered.

"No, it's alright. We'll just go try the other one." the doctor sighed his saddening blue eyes at me before going to leave.

"Other one?" I repeated. "Rae? YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" I growled. "You touch her-!"

The soldier hit me with his gun, and I fell to the floor, knocking out cold.

* * *

_"You're only sort of sick, Lena." it's my little cousin, Rae's sister, Makaylah._

_"Huh?" I asked._

_"You're a Carrier. You turn people into zombies."_

_"...what?"_

_"You, Sissi, and your friends are Carriers from the infection. You turn people into zombies."_

_I process this._

_"...is that why I haven't turned into a zombie? I'm not immune?"_

_She nods._

_All those people we met. Ding Dong Dumbass. The couple on the boat. The plane pilot._

_...we-?_

_"What the f-"_

**_Aaaauuugghhaauuggh_**...

I shoot up awake.

_**Aaaauugghhhhughhh**_...

"Aw shit," I groaned. I get up from the floor with a massive headache. "Where's my bookbag-?" I wondered aloud.

My desert eagle sounds nice right about now.

_**Aaaauuggghhhhhh**_...

"Eh," I sighed. I go over to the door and it opens up. "Gotta find Rae." I told myself.

I look around for a temporary weapon. Nothing.

I find a scalpel. It'll work.

Wait...

Yeah. It's all I got.

I go over to the door, listening to the groans of the undead. I groaned myself.

I remember my dream. I'm a Carrier? Along with Rae and the others-?

I carry the disease?

...

I turn people into zombies-?

"Oh man," I moaned. "Gotta find Rae..." I repeated to myself out loud. "If that doctor did anything I swear..." I open the door and jump out, and I yell:

_"What the f-!"_


	20. He Demands Your Sacrifice

**January, 2013**

**Lena & Rae enjoyed their holiday and New Year by playing Fallout: New Vegas and Just Dance 4. How about you?**

**Spoilers for **_**The Sacrifice**_** comic**

**Beta read by Jesus**

* * *

"_What the f-!"_

I watched someone swing an ax at an undead. That someone was Bill.

Zoey and the blonde doctor were behind him. "Lena!" Zoey gasped. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "No thanks to him." I sneered at the doctor.

Bill glared at him. "We gettin' near that armory yet?" he asked.

Armory? That means guns. Oh, my mental state is ruined. I suddenly dropped my scalpel.

"It's right there," the doctor pointed at a door that rested at the end of the hallway. When we trotted there, he was pushing in the code to get the door open.

"Why is the door sticky?" Zoey noticed.

"Boomer?" I quickly guessed.

Zoey shook her head. "It smells more like…"

The door is open.

Two masked guards stand before us in the room. Francis and Louis were joyfully sat on a large crate. "Guys!" Louis greeted.

Zoey's eyes widened. "Is that…peanut butter?"

I wonder where my bag went. That has all my stuff. Hm.

"What's the prognosis from the doc?" Francis asked Bill with a grin.

"I'm almost happy to hear your horseshit again," Bill couldn't help but admit, stepping inside the armory.

"Really?" Francis gleamed. "Kenny Rogers' balls called. They want their hair back from your face."

I snorted. "Don't push it." Bill warned him. I roll my eyes to keep from laughing. "Louis, what are we looking at here?" Bill questioned next.

I took the peanut butter and enjoyed it while the grown ups devised an escape plan. "The four of us walked here from Philadelphia. I think we can make it across a courtyard." Bill promised.

"I made it here from Toledo, if that helps," I added. "And when are we going to find Rae?" I remembered.

"The other girl?" the male guard guessed. "I heard the lieutenant took her for questioning."

"Shit," I mumbled.

"We'll find her," Bill assured me. "One thing at a time, kid."

* * *

My fingers are crossed that the lieutenant would be near the train yard – our only way out of here.

"Listen up," Bill alerted the doctor and two guards, Jeff and Annie. "It's a quarter mile to that train yard. We're hitching the first train going south. Feel free to join us. You stay close, and shoot _only_ what we shoot at. You fall behind? We leave you behind." He debriefed.

We started our way with a thought in my mind: _why south?_

Strangely, there were no undead around.

"This is good," the doctor said in relief.

"No, this is bad," Louis denied. "These zombies are like piranhas. We jump into their lake, and they're gone? Mean's there's a shark nearby." He explained.

I gulped. _Jaws_, anyone?

A bloodied man was suddenly pointing a gun at our group. He kept groaning that this was all our fault. Well, maybe some of it is, but not all of it. I was too scared for my life to pay attention to Francis and Louis distracting the crazed man, leaving Bill to sock him pretty good.

"Haul ass, guys!" Bill roared. We took off booking. I keep an extra eye out for Rae. Where is she?

"There's a helicopter taking off!" the doctor announced. I barely glanced behind to confirm his claim. "We could flag it down!" he realized.

"Bad idea!" I argued.

"Keep moving!" Zoey ordered us. I turned away to pump my legs as the tank that just came out of nowhere takes down the chopper with a large piece of concrete. It was almost like Mercy Hospital all over again.

The explosion sent us all flying forward. I held onto my heavy rifle, so I landed on it painfully. "Up!" Bill heaved me up by the arm.

The tank was onto us now. Annie yelled in horror, "He's throwing the _road_ at us!"

"They'll do that!" Zoey responded. "Reloading!"

"Nothing new!" I input. This is when Louis speeds past us in a leaking vehicle. "What the hell?" I uttered.

"Why is he doing the stupidest thing I've ever seen?" Francis demanded.

"He's leaking gas," Bill realized.

The tank flips the car, leaving Louis barely enough time to jump out. Bill pitched his cigarette on the gas to ignite it. Louis ran past the flames, yelling at us to move.

The tank explodes by the car, just as I tripped backwards. I looked down to see a miracle. "Train tracks…!"

"Told you we'd make it, Francis," Louis gleamed, breathing heavily.

* * *

There were now two stops. The holdout spot, and the train. Jeff and Annie chose the holdout for fear of us turning them into walking corpses if their masks ever came off. Zoey wished them luck, and we'd just jumped onto the train, when…

"_Lena!"_

"…Rae!" I cried. I tackled her in a hug, dropping my rifle.

"Throw all your pipes, Louis," Bill instructed. The men went to figure out how to operate the train.

"How'd you get here?" I asked my cousin.

"The soldiers left me and the lieutenant for dead," Rae answered. "Even he was a freakin' asshole, so I ditched him and ran here."

I picked up my rifle when the train came to life. "Oh, my God," Rae gasped. She looks past, so I follow her outside to the rail, just as the train started to move.

Surviving soldiers were running towards us. The doctor. Why the hell wasn't he already on with us-?

I dropped my weapon again and leaned out to grab the doctor's hand. "Stop the train!" Rae screamed.

"There's more people coming!" Zoey added. "Bill, slow down!"

I reached my hand out as far as I could. The doctor almost had me, until a hunter pounced him. "NO!" I shrieked.

"Damn it!" Zoey exclaimed. "They're getting slaughtered!"

"We're not stopping the train," Bill decided.

"Are you crazy?" Rae bellowed at him.

"No," he replied. "We look after our own."

My eyes were small. My mouth was dropped open. Tears were sprung. My hand was still extended out, until Rae pulled me away from the railing.

I sobbed for a good while. Sat in the cargo and cried. A headache developed quickly. Rae gives me a painkiller from a med kit. Other than that, she sat next to me to reassure me.

Eventually I fall asleep. No dreams. No nightmares. Only an endless, dark void.

* * *

When I woke up, Rae said we were currently in Georgia, and headed for the Florida Keys. "Always wanted to go there," I slurred.

Rae narrowed her chocolate eyes at Zoey's guilty blue orbs. "Did you drug her?"

"I may have slipped her something to help her sleep." She admitted.

Next thing I knew, we were running through a humid town, looking for an active boat. Rae was up front with Louis and Bill. They were having too much fun with pipe bombs.

I stayed behind with Zoey and Francis. Zoey is fumed at Bill for leaving the others behind. I smile faintly when she tells us we're like family to her. Apart from Rae, they might be my only family left.

"I'll say this for Bill," Francis started. "He might not listen much. He's old. His beard smells bad…"

"Buuut?" I pressed. "SMOKER!" I noticed when the creature came at us from behind.

Francis shot it dead. "Bill may not always do the right things, but he does them for the right reasons. We'd probably be dead without him."

"Guys!" Louis interrupted. "I found our boat!"

"A yacht!" Rae exclaimed, boarding it with Louis.

"Awesome!" Zoey piped.

"We agreed on a sailboat!" Bill remarked.

"I've always wanted a yacht!" I gushed, climbing on.

"It's a boat. It floats." Francis pointed out. "Besides, I'm sick of walking."

"This place is a palace, Bill!" Louis added. "You gotta loosen- AAUGH!" he fell over in the boat.

Bill and Francis immediately stormed on.

"THIS IS _NOT_ OUR BOAT!" Louis cried, closing the hatch lid that led inside the boat. His leg was bleeding, like he'd been clawed at. "Molotov the boat!" he ordered.

Everyone jumped off after that. "At least we got to stand on a yacht," I frowned as we took off.

* * *

We came across a sailboat. "It floats." Bill smirked.

"Stick your foot in for any witches," Francis teased Louis.

"Real funny, Francis," Louis muttered.

"Cover me, I'll check it out." Bill offered, going into the boat carefully.

…

We waited.

…

"Kids…" he called up. "I think we just found our ticket off the mainland."

We enter the boat to investigate. There was a bloodied dead man on the floor, an auto rifle on a table, and lots of shelves. Shelves filled with canned and packaged food, water, and med kits.

"Paradise." I sighed.

* * *

See, Rae has a fetish for corn. So when she saw a can of sweet corn, she used the heavy pressure of a gun to bust the lid in, and devoured the vegetable like Zoey did the peanut butter. I stole a quick bite in case I never get to taste corn again.

I used a mirror in a med kit to clean my face with wipes, and pull my brunette hair into a bun, that reminds me of my mother. I don't look as sick as usual; it must be because I had somewhat decent sleep during the train ride. I'll most likely look and feel better if I eat.

Rae was almost finished now. I wasn't kidding about her obsession – I even got her a can of corn for Christmas one or two years ago. Luckily, for some reason, she was blessed to still have her duffel bag. She decided to go through it when she finished eating. I open a bottle of water as she hands a pair of mango colored checkered shorts and an orange t-shirt.

"We should change out of these filthy hospital clothes," she suggested. I agreed, and we took turns in the port a potty room to redress. By then, the boat finally took off. Rae puts about two or three cans of corn into her bag. I snorted.

I use a gun to open a can of vegetable soup. Via desperation, I found a box of plastic silverware and happily ate my soup out of the can with a spoon. Rae glares at me for a while. I try not to laugh. She had redressed into white shorts, and a sky blue t-shirt. That white won't stay clean for long.

"What else you got in your bag?" I wondered.

She takes out her phone and throws it to the floor. "A couple more outfits, a pistol, ammo, water, and now my corn." She listed. I shake my head. She zips up her bag, and together we go outside.

Everyone was looking up at a bridge. "It's down," Bill pointed out. "Someone had to have left to raise it."

"I bet that makes a crap ton of noise going up," Francis assumed. "They probably called every zombie in the city down there. And that's what we're gonna do now, right?"

"Yeah…" Bill confirmed. "I want Louis and the kids to stay on the boat. We'll make this quick."

I stopped mid bite. "Excuse me?"

"You see that guy?" Louis pointed at the dead body. "He stayed with the boat."

"You have a point," Bill acknowledged. "Fine. Everybody goes." He looked at me. "Finish eating."

I nodded and scarfed the rest of my soup. I went back down to dispose of the can, and slipped the spoon in Rae's bag. Can't hurt to recycle in a zombie apocalypse. After I drink the last half of my water, I grabbed my rifle and went back outside to get off the boat and sprint to the bridge.

* * *

There weren't a lot of undead, but there will be after Francis climbs up the ladder to raise the bridge. He kept rambling as he climbed. When he played with the controls he yelled out, "Are you f…nothing's happening!"

"Doesn't that just fucking figure!" Bill complained. "New plan: Francis, stay here with Louis and Lena! Zoey, Rae! You're with me!"

"Be careful!" I advised. I watched them take off across the bridge. Soon, Louis and I heard a faint but loud _whirring_ noise. A generator?

Rae, Zoey, and Bill came chucking back to us. "Put the bridge up!" Zoey cupped her mouth.

Francis decided to monologue.

"This better work! If it doesn't, I'm gonna die I guess…"

…

"It's working! Get up here!"

…

"We ain't seen a safe house in a goddamn long time! Don't make me waste my ammo trying to cover your sorry asses!"

…

Luckily, everyone made it over in time. On the other side of the bridge, an entire horde was coming for us. "The bridge will be up long before they get to us!" Louis promised.

_Krkrkrkrkrkrkr…krk…rk…rkk…_

"Great. Bridge stopped." Francis said sarcastically.

"I hate that generator!" Zoey growled.

"Oh, and there's four tanks coming at us. Thanks, Louis." Francis laughs,

"What did I do?!" Louis retorted.

"You freakin' jinxed us!" Rae cried.

"Oh, God," I moped. "We're gonna die." I look at Rae. "I want you to shoot me before they get me. Like in the ending of _The Mist. _I love you."

"I love all of you guys," Louis admitted out of fear.

"Save it," Bill interrupted. "Cover me! I got this!" he leapt.

"BILL!" Zoey screamed.

"You heard him! Cover him!" Francis declared.

Bill ran right at the tanks with a Molotov. He threw it, and took off running to get all the undead to follow him. "He's going to get killed!" Zoey yelled, terrified out of her wits.

We shot down stray undead on the bridge until we heard the generator running again. "He did it!" Zoey cheered.

I smiled, but deep down, I knew. We all knew.

"Fuck this, I'm gonna go get the old man." Francis decided.

"He's gone, Francis." Zoey deadpanned.

"You don't know that!" Francis denied. "He's the toughest old son of a bitch I ever met! He's down there! He needs us! We-"

"Francis, he's gone," Zoey repeated. She grabbed his vest tightly. "He did this for us. Going down there would end up making his death be in vain."

"…goddamnit," Francis croaked.

Defeated, I sat down next to Louis and his wounded leg. "Kids these days," I muttered. "They can kill a zombie but can't cross a bridge. He was right all along." I cover my face with my palms.

"We'll wait this out," Zoey announced. "We should be safe up here until the horde goes away."

"Then what?" Rae asks, mortified.

"We get Louis to the boat and get the hell out of here," Zoey answered. "We look after our own."

I glance at my cousin. She appears terrified.

Bill is dead. That cocky cancer stick smoker sacrificed himself for us. It's hard to believe I would be upset over the death of someone I met less than a month ago. I'll never forget what he said about kids these days.

_Rest well, Bill_, I thought. _Rest well with a gun under your pillow and a carton of cigarettes._

Finally, I started to cry.


	21. Hail and Farewell

**May, 2013**

**Do you have twitter? so do Lena & Rae. If you tweet to them that you're from fanfiction, they'll follow you back! #TeamFollowBack**

**Fanfiction blocks the "at" symbol, so Lena's twitter is arlenaaaa and Rae is RaeBaby22**

**SPOILERS FOR _THE PASSING _DLC!**

* * *

The sun slowly rose after what happened earlier. "How did everyone sleep?" Zoey slurred.

"We _slept_?" I groaned. "My eyes were only closed for a minute."

"Do you hear that?" Rae whispered nervously.

"Hear what? The generator?" I guessed. Oh, Bill...

"Shhh..." Rae hushed. We all listen. Something is coming towards us on the other side of the bridge. It sounds like...a car.

What?

Zoey and I loom over the edge to see some kind of race car stop where their side of the bridge is raised. "Holy shit," I whispered excitedly. "It's a car."

The vehicle shut off, and four people emerged. There was an African American woman with her hair in a bun, wearing a red Depeche Mode shirt. Or maybe it was dark pink. The next to come out was a big and bald African American man wearing a purple high school shirt. Maybe he was a teacher or coach. Next was a Caucasian man with a cute face, wearing a hat. Last was an incredibly handsome man wearing a white suit, but he didn't look friendly.

"Hello down there!" Zoey waved. "It's nice to see non-flesh eating faces!"

"Oh thank God!" the other lady cried. "I thought I was the last woman on Earth!"

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Zoey admitted. I started grinning at the sight of other human beings.

"Can you lower the bridge? We need to get across the river." the Depeche Mode woman requested.

"We can't," Zoey replied. "We..."

I spoke up. "We lost someone," Bill. "And we have another who's hurt." Louis tampering with witch filled yachts.

"If you can find another way over, we'll help you get the bridge down." Zoey finished.

The Depeche Mode woman sighed. "If that's what we gotta do, that's what we gotta do."

"Good luck!" Zoey encouraged as they took off.

"You guys take care!" the Depeche Mode woman replied.

When they were out of sight, I dashed over to the others. "Guys, there's more survivors! They're in a group, like us! Maybe if they join us, we won't have to sail to a deserted island. We can-"

"We're not changing our game plan." Francis retorted.

"Why?" I frowned.

"We look after our own," Zoey reminded. I glanced at Rae, who shared the same look as me.

* * *

It was about an hour by the time we saw the new survivors again. On our platform, their car was on the road in front of us, but below us. The survivors were left of us.

"Hey, you made it!" Louis greeted. "Where are you guys heading?"

The man with the hat answered in a Southern accent. "We heard there's a holdout in New Orleans, so we're headed there. You folks want to join us?"

I was a split second from accepting the offer, but Francis stopped me. "Nah, we've had enough of the military."

Millhaven. Rae and I shudder.

"We can get you on your way," Louis continued. "Head down and restart the generator. We'll cover you."

"We're taking a break first," the Depeche Mode woman decided. "My name's Rochelle, by the way."

"I'm Arlena," I greeted politely. "But you can call me Lena if you want."

When the others with me introduced themselves, we had the opportunity to learn about the new survivors.

Rochelle is almost thirty. She was a news producer, and when she said she was from Cleveland, Ohio, Rae and I happily told her we were from Toledo.

Coach is forty something. He was a high school health teacher and was the defensive cooridnator for his school's freshman football team.

Ellis is just above the legal drinking age. He and Coach are both from Savannah, Georgia, and Ellis was a mechanic, speaking highly of his friends.

And Nick. He was mysterious. He's in his mid thirties, and tried getting us to believe his white suit was worth around ten thousand dollars. That had me laughing. He wears a bunch of rings, so he either used to be rich, or he was married several times.

When they took off to restart the generator, I opened my mouth bravely. "I want to go with them."

"Are you nuts?" Francis spat. "What if the holdout in New Orleans is just like Millhaven? Did you forget that we're 'Carriers'? You could infect everyone there."

"We can warn them if the place is like Millhaven." Rae cut in. "I'm going with you, Lena."

"You're serious?" Louis said sadly.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my days on some island waiting out the apocalypse. We have family to find." I explained.

Zoey frowned. "I understand. When we lower the bridge, go to the boat and get some supplies."

I walk over and hug her. "We'll find you when all of this is over with." I promised. Rae gave Francis a hug and then Louis. "I'll miss you, my knight in tattooed armor." I smote, hugging Francis last.

* * *

We took out any zombies we could see from the platform while the other survivors were (hopefully) nearing the generator. Why are they taking so long? They're slower than Bill. My eyes are watery.

After what felt like eons, we can hear the generator going. Francis proceeds to lower the bridge. When it's down, the others dash for their blue race car. I'd like to know how they acquired that vehicle.

"Hey!" I yelled to Ellis. "Does your offer on joining you still stand?"

"Yeah!" he yelled back.

"My cousin and I will join you! We just need to get some supplies." I informed.

"Sounds good!" Ellis cheered.

"We'll meet you across the bridge," Rochelle decided. As they clamored into the race car, Francis lowered the ladder.

"Bye guys," I said sincerely. "Take care. See you in another life."

"You too." Louis returned.

Rae and I climbed down to the bridge, ran across it, and zipped down to the boat, where we packed food, water, ammo, and first aid kits. We made a run for the bridge again, where the race car was waiting.

"These guys are strangers," Rae reminded me as we neared.

"Zoey and the others were strangers at first," I countered. "We'll be okay, Rae. We're gonna find real rescue. I know it."

* * *

**Now we begin L4D2! I seriously hope there isn't going to be a L4D3. If there is, it needs to wait until I finish this story, which I'm hoping for the end of this summer.**

**Reviews are appreciated! Good or bad, just no flames.**


	22. I Want To Play A Game

It was a good thing our race car ran out of gas, because the highway before us was littered with dead cars. "If only Ellis knew how to build a monster truck." Nick grumbled.

"It got us this far," Coach pointed out. "We can get to New Orleans on our own from here."

We got all of our stuff from the trunk. "You young'ns can handle yourselves I reckon?" Ellis assumed.

I held out my pistol proudly. "Yes." I answered, trying not to cringe from all my pain.

"Hey, look," Coach said excitedly, pointing up at a billboard. "Whisperin' Oaks! I used to go there as a kid!"

"Oh, good," Nick answered sarcastically. "Now we can die there as adults."

"And as teens," I threw in sluggishly. He snorts at me.

We start walking down the highway, and before we get to a car we're gonna have to climb over, a zombie came roaring over. I screamed because of what it looked like. It was definitely female, and it shot out something green from its mouth. Coach grabbed me quick and yanked me back before the green substance could get me.

"What?!" was all I could gasp. The other adults shot the zombie dead. Rae carefully went up to inspect the green substance that came from the new kind of zombie.

"It's acid," she realized. She always was good in science.

We continued down the highway, and going right to an off ramp. We turn left at the end, where spotlights in the distance revealed Whispering Oaks. To the right was a motel. We had to navigate through the parking lot and go through some upstairs rooms to make it to the other side, which was now a path going downhill.

Rae and I didn't notice how steep it was as we barged down, only to have the both of us slip on mud, and we started to roll the rest of the way down.

Yes, we rolled.

Rae yelled once. I was breathless. Too afraid for my life to hear what the adults were screaming as we tumbled down. When we shockingly made it to the bottom, I groaned a lot from my back hurting. I bet Rae's shoulder that was previously dislocated was no doubt hurting too.

I think Rochelle is yelling not to move. I also hear crying. Was it Rae? No? Was it me? I blink, and felt no tears. Not me. Then it has to be...

I turn my head over to the right to see a witch a few feet away. Are you kidding? It is looking right at me. This is it. Time to die. I should have stayed with Zoey, Francis and Lewis. I could be living big on a deserted island. I start weeping gently because I'm already in enough pain.

The witch looked startled that I could cry like her. "I have feelings too you skank." I sobbed. Now she appeared offended. I sniffed, and now she looked afraid. _Afraid._ She screamed, got up, and ran the other way.

"What. The. Hell?" Ellis murmured.

Coach came down to me to help me up. "How did you scare the witch away?" he asked in pure shock. I opened my mouth to speak, but I was so shaky. I'm feeling dizzy. I fell forward into Coach and fainted.

* * *

Someone's carrying me. Francis?! No...I think it's Coach. "She's a freakin' zombie!" Ellis yelled.

"No she's not!" Rae protested. Everyone's running.

"Then how the hell did she get the witch to go away like that?!" Nick growled. I mentally begged Rae not to say anything else. Maybe it's because we're Carriers? Are we possinbly changing from it?

Oh, fuck. I've been touched by zombies. Cuts on my waist and face. What if I _am _turning into a zombie? Oh my God.

AM I TURNING INTO A ZOMBIE?!

We're climbing up a hill now. When we make it to the top, I see the entrance to Whispering Oaks. Coach sets me down, and is a little wary of me.

"I'm not a zombie," I remarked. "I'm human, just like you."

"We'll see about that." Nick threatened. "We'll be watching you."

I sighed, and helped the new gang fend off some undead as we made our way to the trailer ahead - a safe house. Inside, I nearly fell to the floor like always. I just want to sleep, but in a nice, cozy bed with a pillow and blanket.

Coach inspected a poster that was put up on the wall. "Midnight Riders? They're supposed to play here?"

A band I assume. "Never heard of them." I admitted.

"Are they any good?" Rae asked.

"Oh yeah, I got all their albums," Coach bloated. "Even their new stuff that ain't any good."

"I heard that when they play, you can see their show from SPACE!" Ellis gawked.

The other adults ignored him blankly. I gave them all a puzzled look, but they went ahead and exited the trailer on the other side, so I guess we followed. Now we're in the amusement park.

"I used to love this place as a kid," Coach remembered.

"I hear a Jockey!" Ellis hissed.

"A what?!" Rae and I gasped in unison. Our question was quickly answered when a smaller version of a tank jumped onto Rochelle. Like it was riding her and trying to kill her at the same time.

The adults were just about to shoot the Jockey, but something in me made me yell, "GET OFF OF HER!"

The special zombie screeched at my voice, and obeyed me. It jumped off Rochelle, and the adults shot it dead.

"What the frick?!" Rae yelled.

Nick aimed his gun at me angrily. "I told you she's a goddamn zombie!"

"Put your gun down," Coach rumbled.

"If you're not a zombie then how the hell are you controlling them?!" Nick demanded.

I gulped, and then came up with the best answer I had. I lift my shirt up a little to reveal the wound on my waist still nearly fresh, but it didn't need a bandage anymore. "I got scratched by a zombie here," I pull my shirt down and touch my cheek wound. "A witch scratched me here. I thought at first I would turn into an infected from it, but nothing happened for a while. Maybe it just needed time to get used to me, so maybe I am becoming one of them."

"No..." Rae denied instantly.

"If I become uncontrollable, like I try to kill you," I said sadly. "Then I want you to shoot me, okay? With no regrets. Because you look after your own."

* * *

In the safe house, I sit in the corner away from the others, just thinking. Rae's ignoring me because she's pissed at what I said.

Nick comes up and sits next to me. He hands me a couple of clips for my pistol. "Thanks." I murmured.

"I'm sorry about what I said," Nick apologized. I shrug as a response. "Ellis thinks that if you keep...adapting to your wounds, you could even keep away tanks."

I snorted. "So you just want to use me?"

"Yup."

"Appreciate your honesty, Nick."

"Anytime, kid."

"It's time to go," Rochelle announced. Nick helps me up and we exit the trailer, now entering the zombie infested carnival. I unfortunately had to lead the way but Coach was with me. He knew this place like the back of his hand.

A smoker greets us when we're further in the carnival, along with a flock of zombies. I had no time to try and command them; the smoker had latched its tongue around Coach. I shot half a clip at the smoker before it died. Everyone else gave us cover while Nick used his axe to free Coach. When all the tongue was off him and the flock was dead, Coach and I led the way again.

...

...

...

Coach was musing at the cotton candy, when he saw something that made him freak out.

"_CLOWNS?!"_

Indeed, zombie clowns are officially real.

...

...

...

"Check it out! Kiddieland!" Ellis squealed. "I want to ride something! Just once!"

We can all hear a witch crying somewhere in Kiddieland. I heard Rochelle sigh.

...

...

...

"Oh. My. God," I gawked. "Rae, look, it's the giant slides!"

"This is awesome!" Ellis said cheerfully.

"We don't have pillow cases." Rae pointed out.

"Who cares?" I painfully regret diving down the bumpy slide. It hurt more than I could enjoy it. But Ellis went right with me so I feel like it was worth it.

...

...

...

We have to turn the power on to get around the carousel, but we also have to haul ass to get to the other side to turn it off, so the infected horde would stop coming.

A witch was waiting for us and the end. "Don't even move, skank!" I hissed at her, aiming my pistol.

She scowled and started wailing. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

...

...

...

We take a breather in the next safe house. "We have to go through the Tunnel of Love," Coach realized, looking at the giant, heart shaped entrance. "Stay close to me!"

"I think we should clarify what constitutes as _close_," Nick remarked. This makes us laugh.

...

...

...

When we make it out of the death trap- I mean, Tunnel of Love, a helicopter flies over us. We have to go through the roller coaster track if we want to make our way over. Let me tell you it was not easy climbing up and down the roller coaster track. A zombie clown almost threw Nick off the edge but I punched its nose, which honked, and I pushed the clown off the edge, and let Coach help Nick up.

Ellis had to grab my arm every time we climbed up the track. Plus let's mention there were still common infected coming from every direction. I'M GETTING TIRED OF THIS!

* * *

"I ever tell you about the time my buddy Keith fell out of the roller coaster? He didn't drop far, just onto the tracks. Then the carnival people-"

Rochelle sighed. "Ellis sweetie, can this wait?" she asked.

"Yeah, okay." Ellis agreed.

A tank waits for us at the bumper cars. Rochelle got thrown into one.

I saw a Ferris wheel in the distance. Too bad a witch and a spitter ruined the moment.

Remember the dead cows from Newburg? THERE ARE MORE IN THESE BARNS WE'RE GOING THROUGH! To make it worse, a boomer was just outside, then we had to start roof hopping. Next we had to go through one last massive horde to get to the next safe house, where Coach said he had an idea.

I gulped down some water and foreshadowed what will happen. Rae and I are Carriers. We're gonna get on that helicopter. Our new friends haven't been turned after being around us, so they must be Carriers too. I wonder if Rae realizes this? That helicopter pilot is going to turn and we'll crash and we'll just have to keep finding rescue.

It's a cycle and I've accepted it.

Here was Coach's great idea: turn the stage lights on and set off the music and lights show to signal the helicopter that we're here. I think it was the most fun I've ever had. Rae, Nick and I were wrecking nice guitars by bashing infected faces in with. Coach threw a gas can at a horde to start a fire.

Rochelle chucked a pipe bomb at a box of fire crackers. That was the greatest explosion I'd ever seen. The zombies literally popped.

We survived long enough for the helicopter to fly in and mostly land in the bleachers to the far left of us across the stadium. I hate running because of the amount of pain I'm in but I had to book it to get away with everyone.

As if on queue, here comes a tank.

"No," Rae cried, because she's seen this before all too well. The pilot started flying us up, but the tank was close. It just grazed the foot rail of the chopper before we flew up out of it's reach. A wave of relief flooded everyone but my cousin and I.

Rae rubs her eyes before looking hard at me. We know what's going to happen very soon so we hang on to something, mentally preparing for the impending helicopter crash.


End file.
